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INTRODUCTION
Humility is an accurate and realistic assessment of one’s worth. Rarely do we get this self-review right, erring in two directions. We err, first of all, in our evaluation of ourselves in relation to mankind and the world; and, secondly, in our view of ourselves in relation to God. Considering the first type of error, our self-view regarding our relative value among fellow humans: this one is distorted because of the comparisons we make between ourselves and those around us. We see ourselves either as “better” or “worse” than those we see, and we feel excessively low, or unwarrantedly high, based on how we stack up against others. This leads, in turn, either to compensation for perceived shortcomings, or to arrogance. Neither of these can lead us into thought and behavior patterns which are constructive.
A second error is made when we have the wrong view of ourselves in relation to God. This is more serious than an incorrect view of our value in the world, because its effects reach much further...all the way into eternity. A correct view of our position in the divine scheme of things is based on a very simple premise: God is God; we are not. It seems that this simple lesson is the hardest truth to get right, because we are overwhelmed with the world we see, and the self we sense; thus, we often forget the world that exists beyond our senses. God is usually an afterthought, rather than the center of our existence, so we tend to be preoccupied with our status in relation to our environment...and the relative strength we feel in it...rather than our condition before God. It’s all about ME...I am the creator and sustainer of my reality...I am my own reason for existing. When we assume this, God is not God to us; we suppose that WE are all the “god” we need. This is pride.
Contrarily, when we come to see God as God, we will know that our only rightful posture is one of humility toward Him, and we will know that—whether we see ourselves as up or down in the world—our true value comes only from Him; God alone makes us valuable. Without Him we are nothing, regardless of how well we measure up by the world’s standards; and without Him we can DO NOTHING, regardless of how much we develop the resources of our humanity. That venerable, highly-educated genius named Paul, said, “I am nothing” (1 Cor. 12:11). Jesus confirmed this for all of us, saying, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The outcome of a corrected view of ourselves as nothing, and of God as God, is that we will allow Him to become the purpose, the provider, and the power for our lives. God is something.
SYNOMYMS FOR “HUMILITY”
There are many synonyms that can help us frame the meaning of “humility”. One of the most significant of these is the term “confession”, which means responding to the sins we know we have committed by naming them to God. (Confession is also accomplished when we go through one of the other means for confession, such as contrition, repentance, or asking for forgiveness.) There are many equivalents to humility, such as these: fear of the Lord, acknowledgement of God, God-consciousness, being still before the Lord, waiting on the Lord, trusting God, preoccupation with Christ, awe, thankfulness, and resting in God’s promises. Humility encompasses prayer, trust, perseverance, and service through our gifts. Words that go along with humility may also include these: lowly, simple, contrite, meek, and submissive.
In discussing humility, we will look at the following aspects of the concept: the need for humility in new believers, God’s viewpoint vs man’s viewpoint, examples of humility, what it means to walk humbly, dealing with pride, humility and growth, humility and suffering, humility and faith, humility and gifts, and the effects of humility.
HUMILITY IN NEW BELIEVERS
Preachers, Christian movies, social media posts, numerous books, and so on, suggest or downright declare that a conversion to Christ provides instant and complete equipment for living the Christian life. The assumption is this: By becoming a believer, sweeping and pervasive changes permeate the consciousness permanently, and we are forever enabled to live joyously and sin-free. What a shock it is when reality hits, and Satan and the world pull the rug out from under us, and we find our ever-resident sinful natures in full cooperation with evil forces, creating and practicing sin and legalism!
The need for growth in knowledge and grace, and the uselessness of a believer until his growth is well underway, has been downplayed. Too often, well-meaning witnesses lead the lost to Christ, but then leave them by the side of the Christian path to fend for themselves. New believers who have no firm doctrinal underpinning for ways to proceed in their new lives will founder, and eventually shipwreck, because they do not know what they are doing. The first thing a new believer must understand is that they are BABIES! As infants, there is much for them to learn and understand, before they will be prepared to serve and bear fruit. Fruit-bearing will come through MATURE BELIEVERS, not from a cluster of toddlers playing “church”.
Many believers live their entire lives spinning in circles as immature believers and never growing, even though they become heavily involved in church “activity”. They don’t grow, because they DON’T KNOW THEY ARE IN NEED OF GROWTH. New believers need to understand their need to be humble, and to stand still, be quiet, and learn. Otherwise, they will live on the edge of Christianity forever, believing that they already have all they need to succeed as Christians. They may be quite busy, but they will not be productive, and THIS IS NOT WHAT GOD WANTS. Their achievements will be fleshly, regardless of any “holy appearances” they may exhibit, and they will not know the assurance and fullness that comes to the believer that tends to first things first. This includes growing (maturing) and staying in fellowship (walking in the Spirit). If these are not familiar to you, please read Bible Basics for Living, available at this website, to secure the truths surrounding these crucial areas of study.
A new believer must GROW! They will not “walk” until they are strengthened for that experience. No new believer should be expected to start “working”, before he has completed intensive and meaningful training in the truths for living provided in God’s Word. When we are first saved, we must not delay immediate matriculation into a concentrated study on His truths for living. The energy a new believer gets from the excitement of being converted must be channeled into training, or that believer will either stagnate, or head off in a wrong direction that runs counter to God’s plan and purpose.
GOD’S VIEW OF US IS CORRECT; OURS IS NOT
God sees the humble...and recognizes them. Ps. 138:6 says, “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.” To get God’s attention is not to become noteworthy, but to bow our heads in reverence and approach Him as the God that He is, with awareness that He alone is the “Lord on high”, and that He will acknowledge us much more when we know our place.
God not only sees the humble; he values them. This is confirmed in Is. 66:2b, which says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” When we come before God in humility, and expose our weakness and need of Him, He smiles and says of us, “I particularly like this one.” And then He says to us, “Take a step up; I am honoring you,” because anyone He esteems, He elevates.
God wants to see us with a correct perspective of Him, and He wants us to know that He is the Creator and Deliverer, and that He is our Provider. He wants us to recognize that we are dependent on Him, because He alone has the power to raise us up or hold us down. And notice: Even our being “raised up” has a right and wrong perspective, because it involves more than success, wealth, status, fame, sex, approval, or education. When God elevates, His intention and focus are centered on SPIRITUAL STATUS AND GROWTH! What He wants to see in us has eternal implications, such as spiritual growth, knowledge of God, a walk in the Spirit, trust, prayerful thinking, endurance of His training, and operation of our gifts. These will equip us with everything we need for God’s work, and for the accomplishment of His will. As we grow, we will increasingly understand the place of God’s provision in the operation of His divine life within us and through us.
It is not what we say about ourselves that gives us value, but what God says about us. 1 Sam. 2:3 sheds light on this, saying, “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” We always want to “look good”, and we always reflect ourselves as the heroes of our own stories, so when we are speaking of ourselves, we always fix our hair, don whatever cosmetics we have available, and set the lighting to reflect our best features...and then we give our favorite face to onlookers. But God is not impressed, because He knows the inside story. He knows where we came from, and what we truly are in our innermost parts. And it’s not pretty, most of the time.
Gen. 2:7 tells us that we are made from dust, so how can we think we are really something, when we are just a model of clay? Gal. 6:3 adds this: “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We are wrapped up in the swirl of our own delusions. We learn something that others don’t know and we feel exclusive. We perform an act that sets us apart and we feel special. We acquire an object that others don’t have and we feel superior. Yet we are NOTHING...full of self-deception.
When we can understand that superiority lies with God, and that His view is the ultimate one, we will be getting ready to dine at His table. It is a matter of developing eyes that see what He sees. This is why we are called upon to follow Col. 3:2, which says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” When we arrive at a sufficient stage of maturity, we will develop a divine point of view. That is the exciting thing about growth...you can look back and see how far you’ve come...and you can look ahead and know YOU WILL SEE CHANGE IN YOUR OUTLOOK, if you will just keep growing.
There is quite a contrast between values and views that belong to the world...and those of God. 1 Cor. 1:20-21 says the following about this contrast:
“Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”
Think of the smartest people you know, or know of, in whatever field you want. You must understand that their most erudite and arcane postulates are utter foolishness in the extended view of the Creator. Verse 25 adds, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” There is a huge gap between God’s most idle thought and man’s most brilliant cerebration. God is not looking for human excellence and perfection; He is looking to bring perfection to the imperfect. He doesn’t need us to be better or stronger or prettier; these do not impress Him. God wants to be His own perfect and strong and beautiful self through us. He doesn’t want us to conceive wisdom; He wants us to receive wisdom. He wants us to know our hands are empty, except for what He places into them; and He wants us to recognize that we have nothing of value to bring to Him, while—on the other hand—what He offers to us is of immense value.
The ones God can use and bless are those believers who do not see greatness in themselves, but have grasped that only God is great, and that all greatness comes from Him. 1 Cor. 1:26-27 says this:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
When we came to God to be saved from eternal condemnation, we did not try to “appear” a certain way, or assume some kind of righteous posture. We came as we were, and brought our nothingness to His completeness. And we have been made forever complete through our eternal union with Him. That is our position. And now that our position is secure, we must address our condition, which is still earth-bound and sin-laden. Once again, God is not looking for qualities in us that make us eligible for advancement; He is looking for our eyes to be directed away from ourselves and toward Him...adopting a view that encompasses and relies on God’s assets, and not our own.
God’s message of grace and the sacrifice of His Son is foolishness to unbelievers, but to those who have believed, it represents the power of God. It is by His power that we have been saved, and it is by His power that we will be able to live the life of Christ. 1 Cor. 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” When God offers grace, and it is accepted, His power goes to work. Grace is seen in the assets he offers for those who employ the techniques that we have discussed throughout our studies: confession, prayer, study, trust, training, and—finally—surrender (complete submission to the “fullness of God”).
By the way, just because we grow and increase our use of God’s grace assets, does not mean that we, in and of ourselves, actually gain strengths or tools that equip us for battle with self and evil. Growth increasingly gives us a perspective of dependence on our Father for supplies and resources. We, ourselves, independent of God, will actually be diminishing, though there will be an increase over-all. This may sound confusing. It is important to get this straight. What we are saying is that maturity gives us a realization that the improvement in our thinking and our demeanor does not come from improvements in ourselves, but in a burgeoning influence of God and His truth within us, which enables His Spirit to fulfill His purposes...through us. John 3:30 sums this up well, saying, “He must become greater; I must become less.” This is interesting, however: by becoming less, we HAVE more to work with, DO more, and ACHIEVE more than we thought possible. Less becomes more.
The attitude of God being all-sufficient, and man as being needy and inadequate, is the correct one to have. We are failures, regardless of how the world sees us. And this is why we need to confess our sins, to help us maintain the correct view of God as God, and ourselves as rescued mongrels. Ps. 51:15-17 tells us what God is looking for in believers:
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
When we are crushed by our weaknesses, and feel genuine regret at our faults, God will show us mercy EVERY TIME, and that is when we will receive His strength and walk in His power. James 1:9 tells us we can feel good about our weakness and lowness, as follows: “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” We can be ashamed of our behavior, but proud of our cleansing. We can beam with “God-pride”, as we walk in the Spirit, because our sins have been confessed.
As we look toward God, we can only feel shame at our lack of understanding and insight, and gratefully acknowledge that whatever we are becoming is by God’s grace. This is depicted quite well in Ezra 9:6, which offers the following prayer of contrition and confession: “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” Today, we would personalize this prayer of confession and say that MY sins are higher than my head, and MY guilt has reached to the heavens. This matches God’s view of us as helpless and hopeless without Him, but sets the stage for what He loves to do with us, which is to show mercy.
GOD HIMSELF IS A STRONG BASIS FOR OUR HUMILITY
We have already established to some degree the basis for humility, which is recognition of the difference between our humanity and God’s divinity. We want to dig a little deeper into this well, to see further the underlying conditions that form the sub-structure for the operation of humility. One basic underpinning for humility is our limitation as humans. We are deficient of the resources needed to perceive and operate in the “out-picture”, which is God’s domain...as God experiences it and sees it. God has an overview of all reality, extending even to His super-reality, which reaches far beyond ours. We can’t see it, but we can come to understand it, with maturity. Until we get the mind of Christ, the transformed mind that has been renewed—in short, until we mature—we are stuck with the “in-picture”, which is the limited and immediate view we have of the world, as experienced through our senses and the inner-processing we do as we observe our environment. The in-picture obliterates the out-picture; i.e., our focus on the immediate blots out our view of the eternal. Thus we measure ourselves within the finite cosmos, rather than within the eternal state. The result is a dichotomy: pride in one realm, and humility in the other. The more we operate in God’s realm, the more that humility will become inevitable.
When we get a panorama of the “out-picture”, we will see God, know His standards, and recognize that we are incapable of doing what He requires. Humanity cannot produce divinity. Paul saw this in himself, as he recorded in Rom. 7:14-25, quoted here:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul testified that he could not control himself, because of the overpowering influence of his sinful nature. Since this was true with Paul, it is certain that we can do no better. We do not have the resources within our humanity to stop sinning. And if we say we do, we are liars, as per 1 John 1:8-10. Our inability to “do right” provides a substantial basis for humility. Ironically, when we acknowledge our weakness, God’s strength can come to rest upon us, and then we can do in HIS strength what we could not do in our own.
Jehoshaphat understood this, as we see in 2 Chron. 20:12, where he prayed, “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” Jehoshaphat could see that he was outnumbered and that he was helpless to stop the gargantuan forces aligned against him. So he committed his dilemma to God...and God responded, as we see in verses 15-17, which follow:
“He said, ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the desert of Jeruel. You will not have fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you”.”
Jehoshaphat did not tell himself not to be afraid or discouraged; he got his message from God, and therefore it had “teeth”; it had the power of the Almighty behind it. Our lives are no different from this king, and we are as reliant on God for deliverance from evil forces as he was. Humility is appropriate, because we cannot save or deliver ourselves; we must rely on God for this. Andrew Murray said the following, all the way back in 1895:
Apart from Me--you nothing. Lord, I gladly accept the arrangement: I nothing—Thou all. My nothingness is my highest blessing, because Thou art the Vine, that givest and workest all. So be it, Lord! I, nothing, ever waiting on Thy fullness. Lord, reveal to me the glory of this blessed life.
It was his “nothingness” that Jehoshaphat brought to God, and we must do the same. God does not want us to bring to Him a frog we caught at the pond, some achievement or accolade of our own; he wants us to come to Him with our nothingness...to be filled with His “everythingness”. We ARE nothing, and we can DO nothing, as we saw earlier in John 15:5. We may be convinced we are something, and that we can DO something of a spiritual nature, but that is the pride of our sinful nature trying to convince us that nothing is something, and that what we do can impress an infinite God. What a limited view we have of God!
Part of the delusion of our pride, and a reason we are not humble, is that we see ourselves as wise and powerful in our own right. 1 Cor. 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Truth is foolishness to unbelievers (and carnal believers, according to Rom. 8), and they cannot understand the wisdom and power of God...or their lack of either one. When we come to understand the power of God, which we have studied so thoroughly in the past, we will see the emptiness of human effort. When human wisdom is trumpeted, the power of the cross is negated. And there is nothing like self-faith to quell God’s power in our lives. Any message is valuable and wise and powerful to the degree that it is connected with the cross...or to the extent that it recognizes and extols God.
The more we understand the way God works, and who He is, the stronger the pull of humility will be. For example, God is the source of good and growth. 1 Cor. 3:7 says, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” The phrase “only God” should jump out at us. Part of humility is coming to distinguish which activities belong only to God. Pride wants all operations to be “only mine”, but no spiritual functions and operations will be effective, unless they come from “only God”. He is the one who is good, and He alone makes things “grow” and bear fruit.
Yet we persist in our efforts. This is described in Gal. 3:3, which says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” Only I, we say...I can do it...watch me. But even Jesus said it was not He who did the work, but His Father. John 14:10b reports this, saying, “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” Andrew Murray said some very appropriate things about this truth—again going back to 1895—as we see in the following quotes:
“Of Himself Jesus had said: ‘The Son can do nothing of himself.’ As the outcome of that entire dependence, He could add: ‘All that the Father, doeth, doeth the Son also likewise.’ As Son He did not receive His life from the Father once for all, but moment by moment. His life was a continual waiting on the Father for all He was to do.”
“Abiding in me is indispensable, for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life.”
“As little as I created myself, as little as I could raise a man from the dead, can I give myself the divine life. As little as I can give it myself, can I maintain or increase it: every motion is the work of God through Christ and His Spirit. It is as a man believes this, that he will take up that position of entire and continual dependence which is the very essence of the life of faith. With the spiritual eye he sees Christ every moment supplying grace for every breathing and every deepening of the spiritual life. His whole heart says Amen to the word: You can do nothing. And just because he does so, he can also say: ‘I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me.’ The sense of helplessness, and the abiding to which it compels, leads to true fruitfulness and diligence in good works.”
ONLY GOD is able to do His work. This is about God being God, and our NOT trying to stand in His stead. Paul described this very well in 1 Cor. 15:10, where he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” This is a great expression of humility: YET NOT I! Only God! This is confirmed again in Rom. 11:18, which says this: “...do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Many points could be made from this verse, but the point we want to make is that the “root” is the source of all sustenance and empowerment for living and thriving in the Christian life. God is the source of all the good we will ever do. And any “good” that we do apart from Him is not good at all.
This idea was expressed very well in the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15. Jesus Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. As long as we are sustained by Him, we will be productive. But if we are cut off from His power through sin, thus quenching the control of the Spirit within us, there will be no fruit, and we must confess to have that power restored. When we are restored to fellowship with God through confession, the power of the Spirit is re-activated, and God is then able to work through us.
We must depend on the Holy Spirit to do God’s work, as Jesus did Himself. John 5:19 breaks this down for us, saying, “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’.” Jesus recognized that His humanity, though sinless, was insufficient to do God’s work, so He Himself said, “the Son can do nothing by himself”. This set up what we see next: “...whatever the Father does the Son also does”. The Son is not doing it; the Father is. The Father, in the form of His Spirit, is doing the work through the Son, because Jesus had put His own Deity in “park” for the duration of His ministry on earth. His humanity was a spiritually-empty vessel, just like ours, which is why He had to “grow in knowledge and grace”, and why he had to live in dependence on His Father. If Jesus Christ Himself depended on the Father, how far will we get depending on ourselves?
Carrying the analogy of the “vine and the branches” from John 15 a little further, we see the following, again from Andrew Murray, who saw the truth of our helplessness, and presented that truth in four short lessons, as follows:
1. There is the lesson of consecration. The branch has but one object for which it exists, one purpose to which it is entirely given up. That is, to bear the fruit the vine wishes to bring forth. And so the believer has but one reason for his being a branch--but one reason for his existence on earth—that the heavenly Vine may through him bring forth His fruit.
2. There is the lesson of perfect conformity. The branch is a perfect likeness of the vine; the only difference is, the one is great and strong, and the source of strength, the other little and feeble, ever needing and receiving strength.
3. There is the lesson of absolute dependency. The vine has its stores of life and sap and strength, not for itself, but for the branches. The branches are and have nothing but what the vine provides and imparts. The believer is called to, and it is his highest blessedness to enter upon, a life of entire and unceasing dependence upon Christ. Day and night, every moment, Christ is to work in him all he needs.
4. And then the lesson of undoubting confidence. The branch has no cure; the vine provides all; it has but to yield itself and receive. It is the sight of this truth that leads to the blessed rest of faith, the true secret of growth and strength: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
It is remarkable that such a clear enunciation of the proper God-man hierarchy was made so long ago...by Andrew Murray, pastor and evangelist of his day. We will hear from him again, as he helps us make clear the reason it is proper that we should be humble before God, which is, above all else, that GOD IS GOD! It’s not that God wants to lord His superiority over us, but he wants to replace our inferiority with His superiority. Let Him be the trunk; all we have to do is be a branch...and hang on...in order to get what He can infuse into us.
THREE EXAMPLES OF HUMILITY
There are many examples of humility in the Bible, but we will briefly highlight three of them to illustrate some of the features of humility. The first and most austere example of humility is seen in our Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, He was God, but He did not showcase that side of Himself during the thirty-three years of His earthly ministry. Phil. 2:3-8 describes this perfectly, as follows:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
If we want to know the mindset of Jesus Christ, here it is: He was God, but became a human, and a servant of mankind; He followed His Father’s plan all the way to the cross. He is our example for the lessons given in verses 3 and 4, which is encapsulated in these four principles:
1. “Don’t do anything out of selfish ambition.” When what we want to accomplish tramples on the rights and well-being of others, it can’t be right.
2. “Consider others better than yourselves.” Self-promotion and personal aggrandizement play no role in our spiritual walk. The exercise of our gifts in behalf of others is a labor of “unselfish love” that serves the needs of others, but also recognizes that we can’t “do it all”, and that we must rely on others to edify US as we edify THEM.
3. “Look to the interests of others.” We were cautioned not to try to do it all and not to refuse the gifted services of others. At the same time, as we receive the services of other believers, we must be careful that we do not only “receive”, but that we equally “give” from our gifted capabilities. We must not become a “sponge” for services, but build our faith so we can serve others. There is a balance between giving and receiving.
4. “Have the attitude of Christ Jesus.” He humbled himself and became obedient. For us, this means that we must obey the commands to confess, to pray, to learn, to trust, to endure, to commit, and to serve. These represent the pathway to growth and a walk in the Spirit, wherein our mindset becomes that of Jesus Christ. What evolves is a singular passion for exercising our gifts in the interests of others. That is real service.
Another example of humility in the Bible is that of Moses. We know what Moses did, as the history of the release of the Jews from slavery and their time in the desert under his leadership are clearly recorded in biblical history. But we do not know the inner content and processes of Moses’ heart. These are known only to God. It so happens, God assessed Moses’ heart, gave him the highest marks possible, and recorded the results for us to view. The results say this: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3). He was the most humble man alive! He had enormous humility. Was he perfect? Of course not. But was his humility deep and sincere? Yes. He was a truly-mature believer with strong faith and a willing heart, shrouded in a cloak of humility. And he was exalted to a place of great leadership because of it...in the vein of “the last shall be first”.
One other example is that of Paul, who knew that his gift came from God, and that it was God who “worked” his gift. He knew his real value in the process of God’s work, and saw his own contribution as very small. Eph. 3:7-9 gives us a clear statement of Paul’s view of his own work:
“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less that the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul’s purpose came from God’s power, expressed through Paul as a gift for disclosing the greatest mystery of all time, which was the work and ministry of God’s Son. Yet Paul, though he conveyed foundational truths for all of mankind for this age, saw himself as “less than the least of all God’s people”. So here was the greatest expositor who ever lived, assessing himself as the lowest of all believers on earth.
We need to get this picture. Most of the time, our objective in life is to get “bigger” and to fulfill grandiose images of ourselves as great heroes and leaders. Our goal is to occupy important jobs in the world and in the church. In the process, we probably scarcely notice those faithful servants who serve quietly and unassumingly, gently and softly serving others out of their own gifts. These are the invisible heroes of our faith, and the ones who will receive great rewards for service, even though their acts may not be highly visible. (See God’s Training Program for Believers, the chapter titled, “The War Against God”.) These are the ones who can strengthen us most. These are the ones we can emulate...the ones who truly serve.
I AM NOT WORTHY
John the Baptizer was questioned about his use of baptism, suggesting that he should not be baptizing, because he did not have the authority to do so. After all, he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the “Prophet”. His response to them was this: “’I baptize with water,’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie’” (John 1:26-27). The attitude of a truly great servant is not, “I am worthy, because I have done many wonderful things”, but rather, “I am not worthy”, regardless of what has been done. This is a perfect expression of humility.
Grace is not to be refused, but it is not something about which we should be misled. How many testimonies have we heard from preachers and others in which they say, “I have done such and such...and this or that happened to me”? An example: “I gave away all that I owned, and God has blessed me many times over because of it.” God will not honor this kind of proud proclamation, because, what this person is saying is this: I AM WORTHY! This is not humility.
In Luke 7, a Roman centurion sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. Right before Jesus arrived, the centurion sent some friends out to tell Jesus not to bother coming. Here is what transpired, as shown in Luke 7:6-7:
“He [Jesus] was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Here is what Jesus recognized in this centurion: “I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” He did not consider himself worthy to come to Jesus, yet his faith was the greatest in the land. Obviously, this centurion was a mature believer, as evidenced by his love for his servant and his concern for the Jewish nation (Luke 7:4-5), and as indicated by his humility. His use and understanding of the phrase “I am not worthy” brought the Lord’s blessing to him.
What gets God’s attention, and brings restoration and blessing to us? Our grasp of this condition: I am not worthy! This is exactly what we see in Luke 15:17-21, where a son took his inheritance and left his father’s home to be out on his own. It wasn’t long before he had squandered his wealth and ended up with nothing. Finally, he realized how good things had been back home, so he made a good decision: he decided to go back to his father’s house. This is a perfect picture of restoration to fellowship, but notice the humility involved in his return, as reported in our passage, Luke 15:17-21. Here is what happened:
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
And then look at the father’s response, which was remarkable, and represents a perfect depiction of God’s mercy when we confess our sins to Him. Here is how the lost son’s father reacted to his son’s declaration of “I am no longer worthy”:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
When we see that we are not worthy, when we see our weakness, when we acknowledge our failings, when we confess our sins...we will be restored, and not only that...we will be blessed! Every step of the way requires humility: the realization that we are wrong, the admission that we erred, the acceptance of God’s forgiveness, and the receipt of God’s blessing after we are back in fellowship. (As we have seen in previous studies, this “blessing” may be seen either as prosperity of some kind, or as training for growth through trials and tests. But anything from God is not only “good”; it is perfect.)
WALK HUMBLY
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” So says James 4:10. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Such is the word from James 4:6. Being humble is mandated in a number of places. Even if there were no reason for being humble besides the fact that humility is completely appropriate and logical, and even if there were nothing to be gained from it, we have our orders: we are COMMANDED to BE HUMBLE.
Micah 6:8 refines our view of humility, calling upon us to live in a state of humility. This verse says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” God requires that we act in a certain way, love a specific thing, and walk in a certain manner. We are to “act justly”, which means that we are to operate within the realm of God’s justice. This justice was satisfied at the cross, and is now exercised in our favor because of the cross. (See 1 John 1:9) Since God’s justice is satisfied, we are to “act” or live in the light of that satisfied justice. We are also told in this passage to “love mercy”, which means to access the forgiveness of our sins through the means God has provided for believers, namely, confession. This restores fellowship, reinvigorates our hearts, and refreshes the operation of God’s power in and through us. And we are to “walk humbly”, or live in a state of constant recognition of God’s superiority and an abiding awareness of His grace.
Micah 6:8 can also be applied to the way we treat fellow believers, and others, but a look at verse 7 tells us that the context in this passage has to do primarily with the forgiveness of our sins, which is accomplished through satisfied justice, gracious mercy, and God’s “walk” with the humble. When we are humble, God will forgive us and walk with us. This is fellowship, made possible by the cleansing which confession initiates, which grace propagates, and which mercy generates.
Part of “walking humbly” is being dressed for the occasion. When we dress each morning, we must not forget to put on humility. 1 Pet. 5:5b-6 says this:
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Humility should be as close to us as the shirts on our backs, moving with us, staying with us throughout the day. This is repeated in Col. 3:12b, where we are told to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” We see that humility is featured in the middle of a list of love-garments; which is found at the grace-and-mercy store and bought through faith. The fabric for this clothing of humility comes from the love we get from God when we walk in fellowship with Him. This is a natural by-product of a walk in the Spirit; it will be impossible for us to walk in the Spirit...to be that close to God...and not to walk in love and humility.
NOTE: This humility is not the work of the flesh pumping up some contrived state of negative self-consciousness; it is the result of our contact with an infinite God. When we are in fellowship, humility is inevitable. To “clothe ourselves with humility”, we must first tend to all the growth and spirituality techniques and requirements we have learned, and FOLLOW them.
This is why we are to “love mercy”...because it is only when we have accessed mercy, and obtained forgiveness, and found grace again, that we can be clothed in humility. Ps. 123:1-3a tells us what we should be looking for, as follows:
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us...”
By seeking mercy, and being cleansed and replenished, we will receive grace, which will teach us even more about humility. And when humility flourishes, we can honor and glorify God by fully acknowledging and revering His singular holiness and greatness.
Applied to fellow believers, walking humbly means to place others above ourselves, as we see in Rom. 12:10: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Love from fellowship and maturity is the prompt, and serving through our gifts is the action. As we have said many times, the most common expression of love is the exercise of our gifts. If you want to see a barometer for your own love-status, look at the identification and operation of your gifts. If you do not know your gifts, or if they are not being used in service to others, check your growth routine. There’s more to be done in the area of preparation and training. Do the following: Constantly—Confess, pray, and trust. Daily—Study. Long-term—train and surrender. Do these, and humility, love, and meaningful service will come.
PRIDE
Pride is not limited to “peacocking”, which is displaying our assets for onlookers, as we search for recognition and praise; or “crowing”, which is announcing our good qualities, real or perceived, with or without demonstrating them. Pride is these, for sure, and we will say more about these practices in this study. But pride is frequently more subtle than what we see in peacocking or crowing. Pride is seen in any decision we make that reflects self-dependency in matters for which we should be exercising God-dependency. Any time we face circumstances without factoring in GOD’S ROLE in determining the purpose and outcome of them, we are operating in PRIDE! Faith, on the other hand, is believing that God knows best, and recognizing that our lives are better off in His hands than in our own.
Pride is evident whenever we look at life from the view of the world or of our sinful nature. Pride is a perspective. If we are perceiving reality through our natural lenses, we will exhibit pride because of misdirected faith...toward ourselves, or others, or forces of nature, or the luck of the draw. Pride is trusting in anything but God, and is both a personal and a species-wide condition. Faith that is directed “up” is valid; faith that is directed “down” is invalid. By that, we mean that faith exercised toward God represents humility; confidence aimed at ourselves is pride. Humility says, “God can do it!” Pride says, “I can do it!”
Pride is Satan’s calling card, and provides an easy appeal for him to make toward humans. His original sin of arrogance was that he would be like God. That is exactly what we did, when we chose to eat of the fruit in the garden. Satan convinced our original ancestors that they could be as smart as God. Our first and most enduring sin was independence from God...or PRIDE! This is more prevalent in and around us than we know, and it is more devastating than we have believed. Pride, all by itself, initiated and perpetuated by Satan, promoted by the world, and generated from the sin dynamo of our own nature...is the greatest divider between man and his Creator. Pride takes us AWAY from God.
Pride is consistently castigated in Scripture. Prov. 16:18 shows us the destructiveness of pride, saying, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is followed in verse 19 by this: “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” That’s the thing with pride: It feeds itself and rewards itself. Pride lives on its own success, which generates more pride, and from there things continue downward into deep-seated arrogance.
To help us frame our discussion on pride, we offer in the following some verses that elucidate the functions and dangers of pride.
· Prov. 29:23—“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” Pride seems heady and satisfying at the time it is engaged, but the outcome of pride will eventually be a disastrous drop.
· James 1:9—“The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” When we are kept in less-than-lofty conditions, we are to thank God and take pride in our status, knowing that it leads to His blessings and greater service.
· James 4:6—“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” When we are proud, God is AGAINST us. What a losing position to be in!
· Prov. 3:34—“He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” God has no grace for the proud. When we choose our way and our solutions and our plans over God’s, we are mocking Him, and grace will be cut off. This should be an easy choice: the grace-life over a do-it-yourself way of living.
Pride is not innocuous; it is exceedingly wrong. Prov. 30:32 says, “If you have played the fool and exalted yourself, or if you have planned evil, clap your hand over your mouth!” When we “exalt ourselves”, we are committing an act that is right up there with “planning evil”. There is no question that pride is bad, but what makes it so hard to manage or spot is that it takes place mostly in the secret chambers of carnal hearts. It is hard to recognize, even within ourselves. I believe this is one of those sensitivities that will come only through serious refinement and maturation.
Boasting is associated with pride. Boasting is not pride, per se, but it is a sin all its own, and it is the evidence that pride is at work. This is why it should be avoided. Changes in our hearts through study and training will help us recognize and confess boasting and pride, and will give us increased discernment to see it when it is rising up within us. But pride will always be at work to cause us to “self-elevate”, rather than humbly waiting on the Lord. 1 Cor. 5:6 says, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?” Boasting is seen as a form of “malice and wickedness” (see v. 8), so the yeast in this verse (v. 6) represents boasting as a sin, which creeps throughout the heart and even into the hearts of those that hear it. Boasting corrupts self and others, as it draws attention away from God and toward the assets of humanity. James 4:16 echoes this view, saying, “As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”
There is no place for boasting before God. 1 Cor. 1:28-29 says, “He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not, so that no one may boast before him.” No one can boast before God; it is utter folly. Prov. 27:2 calls for us to allow others to praise us, and not to praise ourselves. This verse says, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.” This is another call for us not to brag. When we brag, we are preaching the devil’s lie that goodness and life come from us, rather than God.
Because pride is evil, and because it is promoted by Satan, it is appropriate that we should fortify against it through prayer. Of this, Jesus said, as we see in Matt. 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” There are many forms of evil that Satan uses to entice or pull us into slavery to him: sin, pride, attachment to the world, self-righteousness, doubt, and so on. This is why we have to pray for “deliverance from evil”, which is a call to be extracted to safety.
Pride also has the effect of disrupting our fellowship with God. Speaking of this, Andrew Murray said the following, suggesting that restoration of the filling of the Holy Spirit is the only way to have the strength to overcome pride:
“Brother, have we not here [in our pride] the cause of failure in the pursuit of holiness? Is it not this, though we knew it not, that made our consecration and our faith so superficial and so short-lived? We had no idea to what an extent pride and self were still secretly working within us, and how alone God by His incoming and His mighty power could cast them out.”
Pride prevents holiness, which is cleanliness. This is because, in pride, we hardly recognize God, let alone see and acknowledge our own deficiencies and weaknesses (translated “sins”). So we “play the fool” and try to exalt ourselves, thus keeping grace at arm’s length, as we continue on the path that we are blazing for ourselves.
Pride also prevents service. Pride is about serving “self”, not others. With pride, we are not esteeming others better than ourselves, so we are not serving them. Instead, we are comparing ourselves with others to make sure we get our share of the spotlight, ascertaining that our worth is properly showcased. 2 Cor. 10:12 tells us this:
“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”
Comparisons lead to competition. Competition in life (different from “games”) leads to envy, jealousy, greed, and—eventually—hatred. These are the opposite of love, fellowship, maturity, spirituality, and a life that represents being “...devoted to one another in brotherly love”, or obeying the command to “...honor one another above yourselves”. (See Rom. 12:10.)
In summary, pride is the opposite of humility. If we can grow into greater faith and stronger humility, pride will be upstaged, and we will be able to walk in dependence on our Father, rather than ourselves.
GROWTH AND HUMILITY
The purpose of everything we do as “seeking” believers is related to our growth, which will enable us to get closer to God. When we are at last close to God, we can—from that vantage point—fulfill His will, glorify Him, serve others, and enjoy His “fullness”. Some might say our interest in such growth is a “selfish” pursuit, but our relationship with the Lord is individual and personal, and WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ATTENDING TO OUR OWN GROWTH. Growing is actually the most “unselfish” thing we can do. And we must pursue it with all our being.
Humility is a product of growth. As we learn more about God and His grace, and as we use the techniques and believe the promises that we are learning, we will be growing. This will give us a new perspective, and humility will naturally follow. When God comes into focus, and His truths begin to crystallize in our hearts, we can only acknowledge how great He is. When we are in His presence, we can do none other than bow our heads in submission to the Almighty God.
We have studied in the past the place of learning “truths for living” to enable us to grow. I suggest you read Volumes 1 and 2 of Bible Basics on the Power of God’s Word, available at this website. These studies provide a complete discussion of the process of growing in the Word. It is essential that every believer at every stage of growth takes time to study each day, in order to assimilate truth and take in spiritual nourishment. Without this, spiritual strength will atrophy, and the Christian walk will become a crawl, and—eventually—a collapse.
Many different forms of study are available. The primary method for learning is to sit at the feet of a pastor-teacher who teaches AT LEAST every other day, and who teaches how to live, based on Scripture. There are also books and recorded studies that teach the Word. And in-depth personal studies can be done, as well, using Bible dictionaries, commentaries, systematic theologies, word analyses, translations, and topical studies. Correct information is available IF YOU WANT IT AND SEEK IT!
In Proverbs 2, we see a picture of the growth process, as facilitated by gaining wisdom. Verse 6 in chapter 2 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This wisdom comes to the “blameless”, the “upright”, and the “just” (verses 7 and 8). Clearly, wisdom is for those who are in fellowship continually, those walking in the Spirit. The result of acquiring wisdom is accurately depicted in verses 9-11, as follows:
“Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”
Wisdom in the heart is the most strengthening quality we can acquire, outside the Holy Spirit Himself. When we get wisdom, we will see God as He is, as per verse 5 (still in Prov. 2), which says we will “understand the fear of the Lord”. This fear amounts to full recognition of the greatness and perfection of God. Wisdom, then, leads to greater insight into the person and works of God. Proverbs 4:7 caps this, saying, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” This is because wisdom leads to humility.
Even though “humility” is not mentioned by name in the following passage, notice the footprint of humility. Verses 8-9 of Prov. 4 say the following about the effects of wisdom, all of which are also the results of humility: “Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendor.” When we embrace wisdom, humility will blossom, and we will be exalted. And as we grow in wisdom, we will also serve others. This is a direct result of increased humility, as shown in James 3:13 which says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Colossians 1:9-12 tells us about the growth-gains we get when we acquire knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from Scripture. Here is what this passage says:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
Paul is praying that God will fill the Colossians with “knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding”, so that they will benefit in the following ways:
1. They can live a life “worthy of the Lord”.
2. They can “please him in every way”.
3. They can “bear fruit in every good work”.
4. They can “grow in the knowledge of God”.
5. They can be “strengthened with all power”.
6. And they will end up with endurance, patience, joyful thanksgiving, and an inheritance.
The most important truth we see in this verse is that knowledge and understanding cause growth, and that closeness with God and correspondence with His will are thereby increased. So closeness with God causes us to feel what? Humility! When we are looking into the light of the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), there is no other way to feel.
Another way to grow is through God’s training. Please take time to read God’s Training Program for Believers, also available at this website. A big part of God’s training is through trials and tests to “strain” our faith and build it up. In reality, the term “strengthening our faith” could be seen as something of a misnomer, because faith doesn’t get more potent; it just incorporates MORE BELIEF that God is there working in our best interests, that He knows exactly what we need, and that He is capable of delivering the right assets at the right time. “Greater strength” actually comes from God, and not from us. By believing more, we access more strength...strength which belongs to God and is shared with us. As our faith is characterized by MORE, God’s strength is MORE WITH US.
One of the ways that faith is tested in order to make it grow is through suffering. This is a common way for God to introduce conditions that will cause us to re-focus on Him, and make us look to Him for relief and remedy. When we suffer we are “down”, which means we have been “humbled”. Suffering adds to faith and leads to humility. Humility then leads to more faith, and so on...a spiral of growth has begun in which spirituality and maturity can flourish. Suffering on the surface appears to be a bad thing, but it can have a positive outcome, if it leads us to humility and greater faith.
To increase the humility and faith of the Jews after they escaped from Egypt, God led them into the desert. What was necessary for survival? Food and water. What was missing in the desert? Food and water. As they faced this deprivation, is it any wonder that these Jews were thinking that the hard labor and occasional lashes back in Egypt weren’t really so bad, after all? But God brought them into the desert for one reason, which is depicted in Deut. 8:2-3, as we see here:
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
God humbled them to teach them. They had to understand that God was their true caretaker, and not nature or the world. They had to know where their faith was to be directed, and understand their dependency on the Lord. But notice something else: They were provided for, even during the time of testing. Verse 3 from Deut. 8 says, “Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” They had manna, fresh clothes, and comfortable feet. Not bad for a time of “testing”. But the trials were real and numerous in the desert, and enormous pressures were exerted on them while they were there.
Times of pressure and pain are difficult, so God provides prayer as a means for seeking relief, as we examined closely in the book on Training mentioned above (also, see James 5:13). When we “HUMBLE OURSELVES AND PRAY”, relief can be forthcoming. In the meantime, we endure testing to increase faith and humility. These have a function before, during, and after the testing. We exercise faith and humility to fortify us for, and to foreshorten the time of, our suffering. And we pray to have the suffering removed, as Paul did in 2 Cor. 12:5b-9, which says this:
“...I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
So, why did God permit the angel of Satan to continue to torment Paul? To keep Paul from becoming “conceited”. And what was produced by this pressure on Paul? Humility, leading to grace and power. His weaknesses became God’s opportunities to work. Paul was humbled by his “suffering” and acknowledged his inability to manage his own spiritual life, realizing that his only strength came from God’s grace and power. Paul was not given the “relief” he asked for, but “grace” instead. So, if we are praying and trusting, the “provision” will consist of one of two things: 1) relief...or 2) grace to stand the test. And when the test is over, growth will be in evidence.
Growth leads to humility, which leads in turn to closeness to God. Closeness will not occur without humility. We cannot approach the throne of grace with pride hidden in our pockets. We can only approach with clean hearts, dressed in humility. Andrew Murray offers another statement which helps us explain this principle. Here is what he said:
“We knew not that absolute, unceasing, universal humility must be the root-disposition of every prayer and every approach to God as well as of every dealing with man; and that we might as well attempt to see without eyes, or live without breath, as believe or draw nigh to God or dwell in His love, without an all-pervading humility and lowliness of heart.”
Get humble, grow, get humble, get close, grow, get humble, get humble, get humble....
HUMILITY AND FAITH
We will rely heavily on Andrew Murray, who lived from 1828 until 1917, to provide insights into the relationship between humility and faith. Fortunately, the material from Murray that is quoted in this section is in the public domain, so we can freely present his remarks on faith and humility. (For more on Andrew Murray, refer to Endnote 1). We begin with a quote citing the need for humility, and highlighting the problem of pride as an impediment to faith, as follows:
“Brother, have we not been making a mistake in taking so much trouble to believe, while all the time there was the old self in its pride seeking to possess itself of God’s blessing and riches? No wonder we could not believe. Let us change our course. Let us seek first of all to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God: He will exalt us. The cross, and the death, and the grave, into which Jesus humbled Himself, were His path to the glory of God. And they are our path. Let our one desire and our fervent prayer be, to be humbled with Him and like Him; let us accept gladly whatever can humble us before God or men;—this alone is the path to the glory of God.”
Any attempt to have faith and build it up will be futile, as long as our hearts are dominated by pride. It is only when we are “humble” that we can believe...and grow our faith. Murray said that pride and faith are mutually exclusive, as we see in the following:
“In our text [John 5:44] Jesus discovers to us that it is indeed pride that makes faith impossible. ‘How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another?’ As we see how in their very nature pride and faith are irreconcilably at variance, we shall learn that faith and humility are at root one, and that we never can have more of true faith than we have of true humility; we shall see that we may indeed have strong intellectual conviction and assurance of the truth while pride is kept in the heart, but that it makes the living faith, which has power with God, an impossibility.”
We can acknowledge the truths we hear and go through the motions of Christian living, and still not enjoy that “life” which comes through deep and rich communion with God, made possible by God’s grace and accessed by faith. If pride is resident within us, we will be seeking to “receive glory from one another”, and thus will not be exercising faith toward God.
Clearly, pride gets in the way of faith, which is why we must confess arrogance as often as we observe it in ourselves. Pride blocks grace and brings “cursing”, as per Jer. 17:5, which says, “This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” When we depend on ourselves or others, rather than God, the grace-flow is cut off. By confessing pride, we remove its power, and restore our fellowship with God. It is then that we can operate in humility and faith, which opens grace-doors for strengthening and blessing.
Faith and humility go together, but our end-goal is to increase our FAITH. When faith is truly strong (or great), pride will decrease and humility will become a constant in our walk. Murray gives us the following on receiving “glory”, or grace, as a result of faith:
“Faith is the organ or sense for the perception and apprehension of the heavenly world and its blessings. Faith seeks the glory that comes from God, that only comes where God is All. As long as we take glory from one another, as long as ever we seek and love and jealously guard the glory of this life, the honor and reputation that comes from men, we do not seek, and cannot receive the glory that comes from God. Pride renders faith impossible.”
Faith opens grace, and permits us to advance toward the “fullness of God”. But it all begins with laying-to-rest our pride, a task accomplished through spirituality and maturity, facilitated by humility.
Finally, Murray adds this about faith and humility:
“We need only think for a moment what faith is. Is it not the confession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the waiting to let God work? Is it not in itself the most humbling thing there can be,—the acceptance of our place as dependents, who can claim or get or do nothing but what grace bestows? Humility is simply the disposition which prepares the soul for living on trust. And every, even the most secret breathing of pride, in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is just the strengthening of that self which cannot enter the kingdom, or possess the things of the kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be what He is and must be there—the All in All.”
Humility trumps pride and permits faith to operate, thus allowing us to live daily by faith. Humility ushers us into the “kingdom” (which does not mean heaven, but a life close to God). Humility presents our “nothingness” to God, who transforms it into the production of divine good through Spirit-led service.
GIFTS, HUMILITY, LOVE, AND SERVICE
Gifts and humility and love and service are all parts of the same train. We want to see how these are hooked together and what we can hope for as a result of their joint function. For openers, pay close attention to the following verses regarding gifts:
· Eph. 4:8—This is why it says, “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”
· 1 Cor. 1:7—Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
· Eph. 4:15-16—Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
· 1 Pet. 4:10—Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
We receive gifts to serve. Then we come together as a unit, in order to strengthen the group, as well as each individual in the group. Eph. 4:2-3 tells us how this works, as follows:
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace [fellowship].”
Fellowship among believers aligns and combines individual hearts into harmonious units under the control of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship with each other, or “unity”, must begin with the filling and control of the Holy Spirit. If anyone is out of fellowship with God, the function of the group is affected. But when all are in fellowship, the force of the consolidated collection of believers is unstoppable.
With unity, the gifts of numerous believers meld into a cohesive whole, which functions with the efficiency and solidarity of a single body. The body has many parts, and each must complete its function in order for the other parts of the body to work smoothly. 1 Cor. 12:18 anchors this truth, saying, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” God is the one who designs and operates the body, and He must be the one who coordinates and directs its activities. If each part of the body has its own agenda, and is pursuing its own independent objective, the body will pull itself apart and will conduct only random and chaotic activities. Nothing meaningful will get done, though many strategies may be implemented and great energies expended. The work of the body depends on each part submitting to the Head (Col. 1:18), so that the efforts of all the parts will be meaningful and productive.
For believers to work together as a unified group, each must be connected with the Head, which is Christ, experienced in us as His Spirit. This means that each believer must have his or her sins confessed, and must be using the techniques for walking in the Spirit and growing. When there is connection with the Head, gifts will be engaged by the members...and each member will benefit. Everybody will be working for everyone else, and not for himself! Service is meant to have an outlook, rather than an inlook. Jesus expressed this perspective when He said this:
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25b-28)
The exercise of our gifts has the view of seeing to the needs of others. This is the way the church is supposed to work...not just as a collection of mechanical water birds (with heads nodding), but as a dynamic group of Spirit-energized believers with EVERY MEMBER CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROUP through his or her own gifts. When we gather to be taught, the pastor is the teacher, but we also need to spend time together in exchanging our gifts. Note: we are all ministers!
The idea of our serving, or being a servant, is seen again in Mark 9:35, which says, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all’.” Notice the suggestion of humility, which is seminal in the performance of our gifts in the power of the Holy Spirit. The highest rank in the Christian army is “servant”; this is the position from which most of the real work gets done.
God Himself selects the gifts which each one of us is to have, and He is the one who will work the gifts. Our job is to stay connected to Him through fellowship, so He can work through us. 2 Thess. 1:11 frames this well, saying this:
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”
God’s “calling” is the gift he has given us; it is an extension of His grace (see 2 Thess. 1:12). Paul’s prayer is that we will be “counted worthy” of this grace provision, which means having all sins confessed and standing before God with a clean sin-record. This is confirmed in Eph. 4:1, which says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Once again, “being worthy” precedes occupying and fulfilling our “calling”. Fellowship comes before service. When we are filled with the Spirit, He can do His work. Phil. 2:13 says, “...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (See Bible Basics on Maturity, the chapter on “Gifts”, for lists of the various gifts, as well as additional discussion on the timing and receipt of gifts.)
Gifted service works in conjunction with humility, as we have seen before. Titus 3:2 tells us “to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.” When we live peaceably and show humility, we enhance the effectiveness of our gifts. Phil. 2:3-4 backs this up in a passage we saw earlier, saying this:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Humility is linked with the operation of our gifts. When humility is absent, pride and ego demand that we elevate ourselves and get recognition, even in (and sometimes especially in) church. Selfishness, ambition, and pride have no place in the operation of our gifts.
When we identify our gifts, we are to accept them and sincerely assume our place in the body. 1 Cor. 12:14-20 tells us we are to faithfully occupy the roles that God assigns, and accept the place that God determines will allow us to contribute the most to others...and that will bring us the greatest blessings. Here is what this passage says:
“Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
We can imagine what mayhem the church would be in if all the body parts were acting independently, OR if each were trying to be a different body part. This has comical implications, but the serious upshot in this is that we can actually witness this in many Christian churches. Where is the fellowship? Where is the coordination of the Spirit? Where are gifts being used interactively? By this last question, I mean to ask, where are gifts being used in a divinely-structured system, underpinned by humility, supported by faith, and performed through fellowship? Gifts must be coordinated by the One who provided them to start with, and they must be performed by maturing believers in fellowship!
Service: That’s what it’s all about. Humility: That’s the prerequisite condition. As we step out to serve in the power of the Holy Spirit, having grown in favor and faith, we carry with us a spirit of love and humility. This is featured in Matt. 23:8-12, where Jesus gave us the following admonition:
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’, for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
We are not to seek titles, or the power and approbation of “position”. This is the work of pride. Instead, we are to perform the work of our gifts in humility, recognizing that it is God who is working, and that there is no place for self-adulation in the body of Christ. We do not exercise our gifts for ourselves, but for the Lord. As Paul said, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” And how do we serve? Through our gifts.
The backdrop for service through gifts is love. Love is a sign of fellowship, and the prompt for humility. Love motivates us to serve, as per Gal. 5:13b, which appoints us to “serve one another in love”. Col. 3:12-17 also gives a spin on the notion of humbly serving in love, as we see in the following:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Notice the sequence. We are to clothe ourselves in love (v. 12), conduct our service in the power of the Spirit (v. 15, “peace” being “fellowship”), and edify each other through our gifts (v. 16). It is impossible for us to operate in jealousy, envy, competitiveness, hatred, gossip, and rudeness and still perform service through our gifts. These must be eradicated through fellowship and growth, so that love can blossom, humility can be expressed, and service can thrive. The process is simple: Get in fellowship and then perform services through your gifts. This is “doing it all in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
Rom. 12:9-13 announces our goal: to meet the needs of fellow believers. This passage admonishes us to do the following:
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
All we ever do as believers funnels into a single purpose, which is, once again, to meet the needs of fellow believers through loving service. Everything should be aimed at enabling each other to STAY IN FELLOWSHIP and to GROW, our two greatest needs. There are other needs, both spiritual and practical, that can be met through our respective gifts, but the most important ones are related to our spiritual condition and progress. Rom. 14:19 clarifies the purpose of our service, saying, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Fellowship and growth: These are the results that God wants to see from our service. If we aren’t supporting the edification of fellow believers, we are not serving.
Any kind of service requires humility. The greatest expression of humility in connection with our gifts is seen in the support we give to other believers. This makes love very concrete and brings it into pragmatic experience in a very tangible way. 1 Cor. 13:4-5 shows us exactly what this kind of love looks like, as follows:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
This is the attitude of love that supports and energizes our gifts. Love is simply the presence and character of the Holy Spirit, who is present and in charge when we are clean and walking in dependence on Him.
We mentioned earlier that faith and humility travel together. We want to provide a reminder here of that connection. Faith and humility interplay in a symbiotic relationship whereby each strengthens the other. And the result is service. Eph. 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Reverence is fear of the Lord, and fear of the Lord is a graduated form of faith. So, “out of faith” comes submission to one another. Faith generates humble subservience of each of us to all the rest of us. This is the frame for service.
As for finding and developing our gifts, these will be timed by God, and will be developed through maturity. If you don’t KNOW your gift, GROW your faith. We are told to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Tim. 1:6a). This is elaborated in 1 Tim. 4:13-16, which tells us to GROW, so that we will not NEGLECT OUR GIFTS. Here is what this passage says:
“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
As we grow, faith will increase. As faith broadens, humility will develop. As humility evolves, love will flourish. As love blossoms, service will expand. This is the Christian life. This is our purpose.
With all the emphasis on service rendered to fellow Christians, the question that may arise is this: What about evangelizing? It is not excluded. If we are serving other believers and mutually edifying each other, the lost will be reached by mature believers who will be available at all times to dispense the gospel. Some even have the gift of evangelizing, and much of their service will be conducted in the field...outside the church. All evangelism is to be directed by the Holy Spirit, in whatever form He wants to conduct it, and it is something we should all be prepared to do, as the Spirit leads. God will always accommodate positive volition, meaning a desire for the gospel, and He frequently uses us to do it. This is a RESULT of the “servicing” that has been done within the church. Edify first; “witnessing” will follow as a work of grace within the plan of God. Giving the gospel is an OUTCOME of spirituality and maturity.
THE EFFECTS OF HUMILITY
Humility opens spiritual doors. Without humility, many avenues of growth and service will be cut off, and we will stagnate in our Christian walk and not understand why we aren’t moving farther and farther. A lack of humility halts progress and hinders our relationship with God, whereas its presence frees us to have fellowship with God, and moves us along the maturity track. There are many positive side-effects of humility, and we want to examine some of these, but first we want to look briefly at two important techniques that humility makes operational: namely, learning and prayer.
The “humble” are the ones who are taught. Ps. 25:9 says, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” The converse of this is that God does not teach without a condition of humility. Humility not only brings instruction, according to this verse, it also invites God’s “guidance”, which is the leading of the Holy Spirit. In summary, when we are humble, we will stay in fellowship, be taught, and enjoy the filling and direction of the Holy Spirit. This is because the Word brings light and understanding to the humble. Ps. 119:130 gives us the following to further establish that humility affects learning: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Pride interferes with learning, as in the case where we say, “What I know already is sufficient.” This kind of self-satisfaction and refusal of truth cannot turn out well, as we see in Pr. 11:2, which says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Prov. 16:18-20, parts of which we saw earlier, shows that getting this wisdom is something we do when we are humble. The evidence and outcome of pride is that instruction is refused. Here is what this passage says:
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
We have some choice about being humble and being taught. If you catch yourself being proud, confess it and get back into the Word as quickly as possible.
Humility also influences the effectiveness of our prayer life, as per Dan. 10:12, which says this:
“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them’.”
Daniel did two things: first of all, he wanted the truth; secondly, he humbled himself before God. Because of this, his prayers were heard and he got answers for the questions he had. Notice Daniel’s humility in verse 15: “While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless.” In the next verse (v. 16), Daniel said to the messenger in front of him, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I am helpless. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” It is then that Daniel’s humility brought strength to him, when God infused Him with divine power. The messenger said, “Peace! Be strong now, be strong” (v. 19). And what happened within Daniel? He said, “I was strengthened and said, ‘Speak my lord, since you have given me strength’” (also v. 19).
Humility results in restoration, followed by strengthening. 2 Chron. 7:13-15 gives a clear depiction of this, saying the following:
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”
When believers humble themselves AND pray, then God will “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God hears the prayers of the humble, but not the prayers of the proud.
Pride is a slippery slope. Prayer itself can become a source of pride. This is what Jesus spoke against in Matt. 6:5-8, where He made the following statement:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
When we pray, we come before the throne of grace, not onto the stage of man. God knows our heart, and if we come to Him with hearts that are pure and humble, we do not need to generate prayers filled with weighty paragraphs and sentences, trimmed with grammatical correctness and concrete nouns. We only need to sit still before Him. He knows our list. He knows our needs. We can specify, if we choose, to be sure we have asked for the things we need or want, or to be sure we have interceded thoroughly for others. But He already knows. When He sees a heart that is right coming to Him in prayer, He says, simply, “Yes, I’ll take it from here.” That’s all that’s needed.
God does many other things for the humble besides teaching them and answering their prayers. Here are some other things that humility brings about:
1. Humility averts discipline. This is what we see in 2 Chron. 12:12, which says, “Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.” Implicit in the idea of humility is the technique of confession. Confession operates as an expression of humility. Confession and humility stop discipline, at least in the form of punitive suffering. Suffering may continue for training, but the discipline aspect of it will cease.
2. Humility heals. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). We saw this verse earlier, but we feature it now regarding the impact of humility on healing. Based on James 5:14-16, we believe this principle can be applied to the healing of the body, as well as that of a nation, within the scope of God’s will and purpose.
3. God comforts the humble. 2 Cor. 7:6a says, “But God, who comforts the downcast [the humble] comforted us...”
4. The humble are sustained. Ps. 147:6 tells us, “The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.”
5. God delivers the humble. 2 Sam. 22:28 says, “You save [deliver] the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.”
6. The humble are exalted. We see this in several verses, as follows:
Prov. 15:33—The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
Prov. 22:4—Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.
James 4:10—Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
7. God blesses the humble. 1 Chron. 17:16-19, gives an account of David’s humble prayer of thanksgiving for his blessings, as follows:
“Then David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men, O Lord God. What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, O Lord. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”
Because of David’s humility, he was given blessings...according to God’s will and by God’s grace toward his servant.
Watch for the effects of humility. They are everywhere in Scripture, and they are significant. Being humble is essential for Christian living, and it’s not that hard. Just notice God, and wait for the shock of recognition to sink in.
DON’T FORGET GOD
The Old Testament was written for the Jews, but there are many principles cited there that have implications for all ages. Deuteronomy 8 is one of them. We want to quote verses 10-20 from that chapter to show what can happen whenever we forget God. When God is removed from our consciousness, we lose sight of God’s greatness and our own weakness, and we need to be reminded of His place in our lives and in the universe. Here is what this passage says:
When we cave in to our yearning for God, and surrender to an all-out search for Him, then we will know why we should be humble, because we will see how indescribably great God is. Long after George Miiler came to faith in Christ, he came to understand what total surrender to God is. He said the following after his ninetieth birthday, addressing a group of ministers and workers:
“The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man...and it led me to care only about the things of God. God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh! Be not satisfied until in your inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!”
Written in the late 1800’s this call still rings true and current today, beckoning us to stand in front of the Almighty God in reverence and awe, and to surrender to Him.
Next article: “Surrendering to God”
INTRODUCTION
Humility is an accurate and realistic assessment of one’s worth. Rarely do we get this self-review right, erring in two directions. We err, first of all, in our evaluation of ourselves in relation to mankind and the world; and, secondly, in our view of ourselves in relation to God. Considering the first type of error, our self-view regarding our relative value among fellow humans: this one is distorted because of the comparisons we make between ourselves and those around us. We see ourselves either as “better” or “worse” than those we see, and we feel excessively low, or unwarrantedly high, based on how we stack up against others. This leads, in turn, either to compensation for perceived shortcomings, or to arrogance. Neither of these can lead us into thought and behavior patterns which are constructive.
A second error is made when we have the wrong view of ourselves in relation to God. This is more serious than an incorrect view of our value in the world, because its effects reach much further...all the way into eternity. A correct view of our position in the divine scheme of things is based on a very simple premise: God is God; we are not. It seems that this simple lesson is the hardest truth to get right, because we are overwhelmed with the world we see, and the self we sense; thus, we often forget the world that exists beyond our senses. God is usually an afterthought, rather than the center of our existence, so we tend to be preoccupied with our status in relation to our environment...and the relative strength we feel in it...rather than our condition before God. It’s all about ME...I am the creator and sustainer of my reality...I am my own reason for existing. When we assume this, God is not God to us; we suppose that WE are all the “god” we need. This is pride.
Contrarily, when we come to see God as God, we will know that our only rightful posture is one of humility toward Him, and we will know that—whether we see ourselves as up or down in the world—our true value comes only from Him; God alone makes us valuable. Without Him we are nothing, regardless of how well we measure up by the world’s standards; and without Him we can DO NOTHING, regardless of how much we develop the resources of our humanity. That venerable, highly-educated genius named Paul, said, “I am nothing” (1 Cor. 12:11). Jesus confirmed this for all of us, saying, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The outcome of a corrected view of ourselves as nothing, and of God as God, is that we will allow Him to become the purpose, the provider, and the power for our lives. God is something.
SYNOMYMS FOR “HUMILITY”
There are many synonyms that can help us frame the meaning of “humility”. One of the most significant of these is the term “confession”, which means responding to the sins we know we have committed by naming them to God. (Confession is also accomplished when we go through one of the other means for confession, such as contrition, repentance, or asking for forgiveness.) There are many equivalents to humility, such as these: fear of the Lord, acknowledgement of God, God-consciousness, being still before the Lord, waiting on the Lord, trusting God, preoccupation with Christ, awe, thankfulness, and resting in God’s promises. Humility encompasses prayer, trust, perseverance, and service through our gifts. Words that go along with humility may also include these: lowly, simple, contrite, meek, and submissive.
In discussing humility, we will look at the following aspects of the concept: the need for humility in new believers, God’s viewpoint vs man’s viewpoint, examples of humility, what it means to walk humbly, dealing with pride, humility and growth, humility and suffering, humility and faith, humility and gifts, and the effects of humility.
HUMILITY IN NEW BELIEVERS
Preachers, Christian movies, social media posts, numerous books, and so on, suggest or downright declare that a conversion to Christ provides instant and complete equipment for living the Christian life. The assumption is this: By becoming a believer, sweeping and pervasive changes permeate the consciousness permanently, and we are forever enabled to live joyously and sin-free. What a shock it is when reality hits, and Satan and the world pull the rug out from under us, and we find our ever-resident sinful natures in full cooperation with evil forces, creating and practicing sin and legalism!
The need for growth in knowledge and grace, and the uselessness of a believer until his growth is well underway, has been downplayed. Too often, well-meaning witnesses lead the lost to Christ, but then leave them by the side of the Christian path to fend for themselves. New believers who have no firm doctrinal underpinning for ways to proceed in their new lives will founder, and eventually shipwreck, because they do not know what they are doing. The first thing a new believer must understand is that they are BABIES! As infants, there is much for them to learn and understand, before they will be prepared to serve and bear fruit. Fruit-bearing will come through MATURE BELIEVERS, not from a cluster of toddlers playing “church”.
Many believers live their entire lives spinning in circles as immature believers and never growing, even though they become heavily involved in church “activity”. They don’t grow, because they DON’T KNOW THEY ARE IN NEED OF GROWTH. New believers need to understand their need to be humble, and to stand still, be quiet, and learn. Otherwise, they will live on the edge of Christianity forever, believing that they already have all they need to succeed as Christians. They may be quite busy, but they will not be productive, and THIS IS NOT WHAT GOD WANTS. Their achievements will be fleshly, regardless of any “holy appearances” they may exhibit, and they will not know the assurance and fullness that comes to the believer that tends to first things first. This includes growing (maturing) and staying in fellowship (walking in the Spirit). If these are not familiar to you, please read Bible Basics for Living, available at this website, to secure the truths surrounding these crucial areas of study.
A new believer must GROW! They will not “walk” until they are strengthened for that experience. No new believer should be expected to start “working”, before he has completed intensive and meaningful training in the truths for living provided in God’s Word. When we are first saved, we must not delay immediate matriculation into a concentrated study on His truths for living. The energy a new believer gets from the excitement of being converted must be channeled into training, or that believer will either stagnate, or head off in a wrong direction that runs counter to God’s plan and purpose.
GOD’S VIEW OF US IS CORRECT; OURS IS NOT
God sees the humble...and recognizes them. Ps. 138:6 says, “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.” To get God’s attention is not to become noteworthy, but to bow our heads in reverence and approach Him as the God that He is, with awareness that He alone is the “Lord on high”, and that He will acknowledge us much more when we know our place.
God not only sees the humble; he values them. This is confirmed in Is. 66:2b, which says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” When we come before God in humility, and expose our weakness and need of Him, He smiles and says of us, “I particularly like this one.” And then He says to us, “Take a step up; I am honoring you,” because anyone He esteems, He elevates.
God wants to see us with a correct perspective of Him, and He wants us to know that He is the Creator and Deliverer, and that He is our Provider. He wants us to recognize that we are dependent on Him, because He alone has the power to raise us up or hold us down. And notice: Even our being “raised up” has a right and wrong perspective, because it involves more than success, wealth, status, fame, sex, approval, or education. When God elevates, His intention and focus are centered on SPIRITUAL STATUS AND GROWTH! What He wants to see in us has eternal implications, such as spiritual growth, knowledge of God, a walk in the Spirit, trust, prayerful thinking, endurance of His training, and operation of our gifts. These will equip us with everything we need for God’s work, and for the accomplishment of His will. As we grow, we will increasingly understand the place of God’s provision in the operation of His divine life within us and through us.
It is not what we say about ourselves that gives us value, but what God says about us. 1 Sam. 2:3 sheds light on this, saying, “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” We always want to “look good”, and we always reflect ourselves as the heroes of our own stories, so when we are speaking of ourselves, we always fix our hair, don whatever cosmetics we have available, and set the lighting to reflect our best features...and then we give our favorite face to onlookers. But God is not impressed, because He knows the inside story. He knows where we came from, and what we truly are in our innermost parts. And it’s not pretty, most of the time.
Gen. 2:7 tells us that we are made from dust, so how can we think we are really something, when we are just a model of clay? Gal. 6:3 adds this: “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We are wrapped up in the swirl of our own delusions. We learn something that others don’t know and we feel exclusive. We perform an act that sets us apart and we feel special. We acquire an object that others don’t have and we feel superior. Yet we are NOTHING...full of self-deception.
When we can understand that superiority lies with God, and that His view is the ultimate one, we will be getting ready to dine at His table. It is a matter of developing eyes that see what He sees. This is why we are called upon to follow Col. 3:2, which says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” When we arrive at a sufficient stage of maturity, we will develop a divine point of view. That is the exciting thing about growth...you can look back and see how far you’ve come...and you can look ahead and know YOU WILL SEE CHANGE IN YOUR OUTLOOK, if you will just keep growing.
There is quite a contrast between values and views that belong to the world...and those of God. 1 Cor. 1:20-21 says the following about this contrast:
“Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”
Think of the smartest people you know, or know of, in whatever field you want. You must understand that their most erudite and arcane postulates are utter foolishness in the extended view of the Creator. Verse 25 adds, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” There is a huge gap between God’s most idle thought and man’s most brilliant cerebration. God is not looking for human excellence and perfection; He is looking to bring perfection to the imperfect. He doesn’t need us to be better or stronger or prettier; these do not impress Him. God wants to be His own perfect and strong and beautiful self through us. He doesn’t want us to conceive wisdom; He wants us to receive wisdom. He wants us to know our hands are empty, except for what He places into them; and He wants us to recognize that we have nothing of value to bring to Him, while—on the other hand—what He offers to us is of immense value.
The ones God can use and bless are those believers who do not see greatness in themselves, but have grasped that only God is great, and that all greatness comes from Him. 1 Cor. 1:26-27 says this:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
When we came to God to be saved from eternal condemnation, we did not try to “appear” a certain way, or assume some kind of righteous posture. We came as we were, and brought our nothingness to His completeness. And we have been made forever complete through our eternal union with Him. That is our position. And now that our position is secure, we must address our condition, which is still earth-bound and sin-laden. Once again, God is not looking for qualities in us that make us eligible for advancement; He is looking for our eyes to be directed away from ourselves and toward Him...adopting a view that encompasses and relies on God’s assets, and not our own.
God’s message of grace and the sacrifice of His Son is foolishness to unbelievers, but to those who have believed, it represents the power of God. It is by His power that we have been saved, and it is by His power that we will be able to live the life of Christ. 1 Cor. 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” When God offers grace, and it is accepted, His power goes to work. Grace is seen in the assets he offers for those who employ the techniques that we have discussed throughout our studies: confession, prayer, study, trust, training, and—finally—surrender (complete submission to the “fullness of God”).
By the way, just because we grow and increase our use of God’s grace assets, does not mean that we, in and of ourselves, actually gain strengths or tools that equip us for battle with self and evil. Growth increasingly gives us a perspective of dependence on our Father for supplies and resources. We, ourselves, independent of God, will actually be diminishing, though there will be an increase over-all. This may sound confusing. It is important to get this straight. What we are saying is that maturity gives us a realization that the improvement in our thinking and our demeanor does not come from improvements in ourselves, but in a burgeoning influence of God and His truth within us, which enables His Spirit to fulfill His purposes...through us. John 3:30 sums this up well, saying, “He must become greater; I must become less.” This is interesting, however: by becoming less, we HAVE more to work with, DO more, and ACHIEVE more than we thought possible. Less becomes more.
The attitude of God being all-sufficient, and man as being needy and inadequate, is the correct one to have. We are failures, regardless of how the world sees us. And this is why we need to confess our sins, to help us maintain the correct view of God as God, and ourselves as rescued mongrels. Ps. 51:15-17 tells us what God is looking for in believers:
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
When we are crushed by our weaknesses, and feel genuine regret at our faults, God will show us mercy EVERY TIME, and that is when we will receive His strength and walk in His power. James 1:9 tells us we can feel good about our weakness and lowness, as follows: “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” We can be ashamed of our behavior, but proud of our cleansing. We can beam with “God-pride”, as we walk in the Spirit, because our sins have been confessed.
As we look toward God, we can only feel shame at our lack of understanding and insight, and gratefully acknowledge that whatever we are becoming is by God’s grace. This is depicted quite well in Ezra 9:6, which offers the following prayer of contrition and confession: “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” Today, we would personalize this prayer of confession and say that MY sins are higher than my head, and MY guilt has reached to the heavens. This matches God’s view of us as helpless and hopeless without Him, but sets the stage for what He loves to do with us, which is to show mercy.
GOD HIMSELF IS A STRONG BASIS FOR OUR HUMILITY
We have already established to some degree the basis for humility, which is recognition of the difference between our humanity and God’s divinity. We want to dig a little deeper into this well, to see further the underlying conditions that form the sub-structure for the operation of humility. One basic underpinning for humility is our limitation as humans. We are deficient of the resources needed to perceive and operate in the “out-picture”, which is God’s domain...as God experiences it and sees it. God has an overview of all reality, extending even to His super-reality, which reaches far beyond ours. We can’t see it, but we can come to understand it, with maturity. Until we get the mind of Christ, the transformed mind that has been renewed—in short, until we mature—we are stuck with the “in-picture”, which is the limited and immediate view we have of the world, as experienced through our senses and the inner-processing we do as we observe our environment. The in-picture obliterates the out-picture; i.e., our focus on the immediate blots out our view of the eternal. Thus we measure ourselves within the finite cosmos, rather than within the eternal state. The result is a dichotomy: pride in one realm, and humility in the other. The more we operate in God’s realm, the more that humility will become inevitable.
When we get a panorama of the “out-picture”, we will see God, know His standards, and recognize that we are incapable of doing what He requires. Humanity cannot produce divinity. Paul saw this in himself, as he recorded in Rom. 7:14-25, quoted here:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul testified that he could not control himself, because of the overpowering influence of his sinful nature. Since this was true with Paul, it is certain that we can do no better. We do not have the resources within our humanity to stop sinning. And if we say we do, we are liars, as per 1 John 1:8-10. Our inability to “do right” provides a substantial basis for humility. Ironically, when we acknowledge our weakness, God’s strength can come to rest upon us, and then we can do in HIS strength what we could not do in our own.
Jehoshaphat understood this, as we see in 2 Chron. 20:12, where he prayed, “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” Jehoshaphat could see that he was outnumbered and that he was helpless to stop the gargantuan forces aligned against him. So he committed his dilemma to God...and God responded, as we see in verses 15-17, which follow:
“He said, ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the desert of Jeruel. You will not have fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you”.”
Jehoshaphat did not tell himself not to be afraid or discouraged; he got his message from God, and therefore it had “teeth”; it had the power of the Almighty behind it. Our lives are no different from this king, and we are as reliant on God for deliverance from evil forces as he was. Humility is appropriate, because we cannot save or deliver ourselves; we must rely on God for this. Andrew Murray said the following, all the way back in 1895:
Apart from Me--you nothing. Lord, I gladly accept the arrangement: I nothing—Thou all. My nothingness is my highest blessing, because Thou art the Vine, that givest and workest all. So be it, Lord! I, nothing, ever waiting on Thy fullness. Lord, reveal to me the glory of this blessed life.
It was his “nothingness” that Jehoshaphat brought to God, and we must do the same. God does not want us to bring to Him a frog we caught at the pond, some achievement or accolade of our own; he wants us to come to Him with our nothingness...to be filled with His “everythingness”. We ARE nothing, and we can DO nothing, as we saw earlier in John 15:5. We may be convinced we are something, and that we can DO something of a spiritual nature, but that is the pride of our sinful nature trying to convince us that nothing is something, and that what we do can impress an infinite God. What a limited view we have of God!
Part of the delusion of our pride, and a reason we are not humble, is that we see ourselves as wise and powerful in our own right. 1 Cor. 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Truth is foolishness to unbelievers (and carnal believers, according to Rom. 8), and they cannot understand the wisdom and power of God...or their lack of either one. When we come to understand the power of God, which we have studied so thoroughly in the past, we will see the emptiness of human effort. When human wisdom is trumpeted, the power of the cross is negated. And there is nothing like self-faith to quell God’s power in our lives. Any message is valuable and wise and powerful to the degree that it is connected with the cross...or to the extent that it recognizes and extols God.
The more we understand the way God works, and who He is, the stronger the pull of humility will be. For example, God is the source of good and growth. 1 Cor. 3:7 says, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” The phrase “only God” should jump out at us. Part of humility is coming to distinguish which activities belong only to God. Pride wants all operations to be “only mine”, but no spiritual functions and operations will be effective, unless they come from “only God”. He is the one who is good, and He alone makes things “grow” and bear fruit.
Yet we persist in our efforts. This is described in Gal. 3:3, which says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” Only I, we say...I can do it...watch me. But even Jesus said it was not He who did the work, but His Father. John 14:10b reports this, saying, “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” Andrew Murray said some very appropriate things about this truth—again going back to 1895—as we see in the following quotes:
“Of Himself Jesus had said: ‘The Son can do nothing of himself.’ As the outcome of that entire dependence, He could add: ‘All that the Father, doeth, doeth the Son also likewise.’ As Son He did not receive His life from the Father once for all, but moment by moment. His life was a continual waiting on the Father for all He was to do.”
“Abiding in me is indispensable, for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life.”
“As little as I created myself, as little as I could raise a man from the dead, can I give myself the divine life. As little as I can give it myself, can I maintain or increase it: every motion is the work of God through Christ and His Spirit. It is as a man believes this, that he will take up that position of entire and continual dependence which is the very essence of the life of faith. With the spiritual eye he sees Christ every moment supplying grace for every breathing and every deepening of the spiritual life. His whole heart says Amen to the word: You can do nothing. And just because he does so, he can also say: ‘I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me.’ The sense of helplessness, and the abiding to which it compels, leads to true fruitfulness and diligence in good works.”
ONLY GOD is able to do His work. This is about God being God, and our NOT trying to stand in His stead. Paul described this very well in 1 Cor. 15:10, where he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” This is a great expression of humility: YET NOT I! Only God! This is confirmed again in Rom. 11:18, which says this: “...do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Many points could be made from this verse, but the point we want to make is that the “root” is the source of all sustenance and empowerment for living and thriving in the Christian life. God is the source of all the good we will ever do. And any “good” that we do apart from Him is not good at all.
This idea was expressed very well in the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15. Jesus Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. As long as we are sustained by Him, we will be productive. But if we are cut off from His power through sin, thus quenching the control of the Spirit within us, there will be no fruit, and we must confess to have that power restored. When we are restored to fellowship with God through confession, the power of the Spirit is re-activated, and God is then able to work through us.
We must depend on the Holy Spirit to do God’s work, as Jesus did Himself. John 5:19 breaks this down for us, saying, “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’.” Jesus recognized that His humanity, though sinless, was insufficient to do God’s work, so He Himself said, “the Son can do nothing by himself”. This set up what we see next: “...whatever the Father does the Son also does”. The Son is not doing it; the Father is. The Father, in the form of His Spirit, is doing the work through the Son, because Jesus had put His own Deity in “park” for the duration of His ministry on earth. His humanity was a spiritually-empty vessel, just like ours, which is why He had to “grow in knowledge and grace”, and why he had to live in dependence on His Father. If Jesus Christ Himself depended on the Father, how far will we get depending on ourselves?
Carrying the analogy of the “vine and the branches” from John 15 a little further, we see the following, again from Andrew Murray, who saw the truth of our helplessness, and presented that truth in four short lessons, as follows:
1. There is the lesson of consecration. The branch has but one object for which it exists, one purpose to which it is entirely given up. That is, to bear the fruit the vine wishes to bring forth. And so the believer has but one reason for his being a branch--but one reason for his existence on earth—that the heavenly Vine may through him bring forth His fruit.
2. There is the lesson of perfect conformity. The branch is a perfect likeness of the vine; the only difference is, the one is great and strong, and the source of strength, the other little and feeble, ever needing and receiving strength.
3. There is the lesson of absolute dependency. The vine has its stores of life and sap and strength, not for itself, but for the branches. The branches are and have nothing but what the vine provides and imparts. The believer is called to, and it is his highest blessedness to enter upon, a life of entire and unceasing dependence upon Christ. Day and night, every moment, Christ is to work in him all he needs.
4. And then the lesson of undoubting confidence. The branch has no cure; the vine provides all; it has but to yield itself and receive. It is the sight of this truth that leads to the blessed rest of faith, the true secret of growth and strength: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
It is remarkable that such a clear enunciation of the proper God-man hierarchy was made so long ago...by Andrew Murray, pastor and evangelist of his day. We will hear from him again, as he helps us make clear the reason it is proper that we should be humble before God, which is, above all else, that GOD IS GOD! It’s not that God wants to lord His superiority over us, but he wants to replace our inferiority with His superiority. Let Him be the trunk; all we have to do is be a branch...and hang on...in order to get what He can infuse into us.
THREE EXAMPLES OF HUMILITY
There are many examples of humility in the Bible, but we will briefly highlight three of them to illustrate some of the features of humility. The first and most austere example of humility is seen in our Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, He was God, but He did not showcase that side of Himself during the thirty-three years of His earthly ministry. Phil. 2:3-8 describes this perfectly, as follows:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
If we want to know the mindset of Jesus Christ, here it is: He was God, but became a human, and a servant of mankind; He followed His Father’s plan all the way to the cross. He is our example for the lessons given in verses 3 and 4, which is encapsulated in these four principles:
1. “Don’t do anything out of selfish ambition.” When what we want to accomplish tramples on the rights and well-being of others, it can’t be right.
2. “Consider others better than yourselves.” Self-promotion and personal aggrandizement play no role in our spiritual walk. The exercise of our gifts in behalf of others is a labor of “unselfish love” that serves the needs of others, but also recognizes that we can’t “do it all”, and that we must rely on others to edify US as we edify THEM.
3. “Look to the interests of others.” We were cautioned not to try to do it all and not to refuse the gifted services of others. At the same time, as we receive the services of other believers, we must be careful that we do not only “receive”, but that we equally “give” from our gifted capabilities. We must not become a “sponge” for services, but build our faith so we can serve others. There is a balance between giving and receiving.
4. “Have the attitude of Christ Jesus.” He humbled himself and became obedient. For us, this means that we must obey the commands to confess, to pray, to learn, to trust, to endure, to commit, and to serve. These represent the pathway to growth and a walk in the Spirit, wherein our mindset becomes that of Jesus Christ. What evolves is a singular passion for exercising our gifts in the interests of others. That is real service.
Another example of humility in the Bible is that of Moses. We know what Moses did, as the history of the release of the Jews from slavery and their time in the desert under his leadership are clearly recorded in biblical history. But we do not know the inner content and processes of Moses’ heart. These are known only to God. It so happens, God assessed Moses’ heart, gave him the highest marks possible, and recorded the results for us to view. The results say this: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3). He was the most humble man alive! He had enormous humility. Was he perfect? Of course not. But was his humility deep and sincere? Yes. He was a truly-mature believer with strong faith and a willing heart, shrouded in a cloak of humility. And he was exalted to a place of great leadership because of it...in the vein of “the last shall be first”.
One other example is that of Paul, who knew that his gift came from God, and that it was God who “worked” his gift. He knew his real value in the process of God’s work, and saw his own contribution as very small. Eph. 3:7-9 gives us a clear statement of Paul’s view of his own work:
“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less that the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul’s purpose came from God’s power, expressed through Paul as a gift for disclosing the greatest mystery of all time, which was the work and ministry of God’s Son. Yet Paul, though he conveyed foundational truths for all of mankind for this age, saw himself as “less than the least of all God’s people”. So here was the greatest expositor who ever lived, assessing himself as the lowest of all believers on earth.
We need to get this picture. Most of the time, our objective in life is to get “bigger” and to fulfill grandiose images of ourselves as great heroes and leaders. Our goal is to occupy important jobs in the world and in the church. In the process, we probably scarcely notice those faithful servants who serve quietly and unassumingly, gently and softly serving others out of their own gifts. These are the invisible heroes of our faith, and the ones who will receive great rewards for service, even though their acts may not be highly visible. (See God’s Training Program for Believers, the chapter titled, “The War Against God”.) These are the ones who can strengthen us most. These are the ones we can emulate...the ones who truly serve.
I AM NOT WORTHY
John the Baptizer was questioned about his use of baptism, suggesting that he should not be baptizing, because he did not have the authority to do so. After all, he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the “Prophet”. His response to them was this: “’I baptize with water,’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie’” (John 1:26-27). The attitude of a truly great servant is not, “I am worthy, because I have done many wonderful things”, but rather, “I am not worthy”, regardless of what has been done. This is a perfect expression of humility.
Grace is not to be refused, but it is not something about which we should be misled. How many testimonies have we heard from preachers and others in which they say, “I have done such and such...and this or that happened to me”? An example: “I gave away all that I owned, and God has blessed me many times over because of it.” God will not honor this kind of proud proclamation, because, what this person is saying is this: I AM WORTHY! This is not humility.
In Luke 7, a Roman centurion sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. Right before Jesus arrived, the centurion sent some friends out to tell Jesus not to bother coming. Here is what transpired, as shown in Luke 7:6-7:
“He [Jesus] was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Here is what Jesus recognized in this centurion: “I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” He did not consider himself worthy to come to Jesus, yet his faith was the greatest in the land. Obviously, this centurion was a mature believer, as evidenced by his love for his servant and his concern for the Jewish nation (Luke 7:4-5), and as indicated by his humility. His use and understanding of the phrase “I am not worthy” brought the Lord’s blessing to him.
What gets God’s attention, and brings restoration and blessing to us? Our grasp of this condition: I am not worthy! This is exactly what we see in Luke 15:17-21, where a son took his inheritance and left his father’s home to be out on his own. It wasn’t long before he had squandered his wealth and ended up with nothing. Finally, he realized how good things had been back home, so he made a good decision: he decided to go back to his father’s house. This is a perfect picture of restoration to fellowship, but notice the humility involved in his return, as reported in our passage, Luke 15:17-21. Here is what happened:
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
And then look at the father’s response, which was remarkable, and represents a perfect depiction of God’s mercy when we confess our sins to Him. Here is how the lost son’s father reacted to his son’s declaration of “I am no longer worthy”:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
When we see that we are not worthy, when we see our weakness, when we acknowledge our failings, when we confess our sins...we will be restored, and not only that...we will be blessed! Every step of the way requires humility: the realization that we are wrong, the admission that we erred, the acceptance of God’s forgiveness, and the receipt of God’s blessing after we are back in fellowship. (As we have seen in previous studies, this “blessing” may be seen either as prosperity of some kind, or as training for growth through trials and tests. But anything from God is not only “good”; it is perfect.)
WALK HUMBLY
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” So says James 4:10. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Such is the word from James 4:6. Being humble is mandated in a number of places. Even if there were no reason for being humble besides the fact that humility is completely appropriate and logical, and even if there were nothing to be gained from it, we have our orders: we are COMMANDED to BE HUMBLE.
Micah 6:8 refines our view of humility, calling upon us to live in a state of humility. This verse says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” God requires that we act in a certain way, love a specific thing, and walk in a certain manner. We are to “act justly”, which means that we are to operate within the realm of God’s justice. This justice was satisfied at the cross, and is now exercised in our favor because of the cross. (See 1 John 1:9) Since God’s justice is satisfied, we are to “act” or live in the light of that satisfied justice. We are also told in this passage to “love mercy”, which means to access the forgiveness of our sins through the means God has provided for believers, namely, confession. This restores fellowship, reinvigorates our hearts, and refreshes the operation of God’s power in and through us. And we are to “walk humbly”, or live in a state of constant recognition of God’s superiority and an abiding awareness of His grace.
Micah 6:8 can also be applied to the way we treat fellow believers, and others, but a look at verse 7 tells us that the context in this passage has to do primarily with the forgiveness of our sins, which is accomplished through satisfied justice, gracious mercy, and God’s “walk” with the humble. When we are humble, God will forgive us and walk with us. This is fellowship, made possible by the cleansing which confession initiates, which grace propagates, and which mercy generates.
Part of “walking humbly” is being dressed for the occasion. When we dress each morning, we must not forget to put on humility. 1 Pet. 5:5b-6 says this:
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Humility should be as close to us as the shirts on our backs, moving with us, staying with us throughout the day. This is repeated in Col. 3:12b, where we are told to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” We see that humility is featured in the middle of a list of love-garments; which is found at the grace-and-mercy store and bought through faith. The fabric for this clothing of humility comes from the love we get from God when we walk in fellowship with Him. This is a natural by-product of a walk in the Spirit; it will be impossible for us to walk in the Spirit...to be that close to God...and not to walk in love and humility.
NOTE: This humility is not the work of the flesh pumping up some contrived state of negative self-consciousness; it is the result of our contact with an infinite God. When we are in fellowship, humility is inevitable. To “clothe ourselves with humility”, we must first tend to all the growth and spirituality techniques and requirements we have learned, and FOLLOW them.
This is why we are to “love mercy”...because it is only when we have accessed mercy, and obtained forgiveness, and found grace again, that we can be clothed in humility. Ps. 123:1-3a tells us what we should be looking for, as follows:
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us...”
By seeking mercy, and being cleansed and replenished, we will receive grace, which will teach us even more about humility. And when humility flourishes, we can honor and glorify God by fully acknowledging and revering His singular holiness and greatness.
Applied to fellow believers, walking humbly means to place others above ourselves, as we see in Rom. 12:10: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Love from fellowship and maturity is the prompt, and serving through our gifts is the action. As we have said many times, the most common expression of love is the exercise of our gifts. If you want to see a barometer for your own love-status, look at the identification and operation of your gifts. If you do not know your gifts, or if they are not being used in service to others, check your growth routine. There’s more to be done in the area of preparation and training. Do the following: Constantly—Confess, pray, and trust. Daily—Study. Long-term—train and surrender. Do these, and humility, love, and meaningful service will come.
PRIDE
Pride is not limited to “peacocking”, which is displaying our assets for onlookers, as we search for recognition and praise; or “crowing”, which is announcing our good qualities, real or perceived, with or without demonstrating them. Pride is these, for sure, and we will say more about these practices in this study. But pride is frequently more subtle than what we see in peacocking or crowing. Pride is seen in any decision we make that reflects self-dependency in matters for which we should be exercising God-dependency. Any time we face circumstances without factoring in GOD’S ROLE in determining the purpose and outcome of them, we are operating in PRIDE! Faith, on the other hand, is believing that God knows best, and recognizing that our lives are better off in His hands than in our own.
Pride is evident whenever we look at life from the view of the world or of our sinful nature. Pride is a perspective. If we are perceiving reality through our natural lenses, we will exhibit pride because of misdirected faith...toward ourselves, or others, or forces of nature, or the luck of the draw. Pride is trusting in anything but God, and is both a personal and a species-wide condition. Faith that is directed “up” is valid; faith that is directed “down” is invalid. By that, we mean that faith exercised toward God represents humility; confidence aimed at ourselves is pride. Humility says, “God can do it!” Pride says, “I can do it!”
Pride is Satan’s calling card, and provides an easy appeal for him to make toward humans. His original sin of arrogance was that he would be like God. That is exactly what we did, when we chose to eat of the fruit in the garden. Satan convinced our original ancestors that they could be as smart as God. Our first and most enduring sin was independence from God...or PRIDE! This is more prevalent in and around us than we know, and it is more devastating than we have believed. Pride, all by itself, initiated and perpetuated by Satan, promoted by the world, and generated from the sin dynamo of our own nature...is the greatest divider between man and his Creator. Pride takes us AWAY from God.
Pride is consistently castigated in Scripture. Prov. 16:18 shows us the destructiveness of pride, saying, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is followed in verse 19 by this: “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” That’s the thing with pride: It feeds itself and rewards itself. Pride lives on its own success, which generates more pride, and from there things continue downward into deep-seated arrogance.
To help us frame our discussion on pride, we offer in the following some verses that elucidate the functions and dangers of pride.
· Prov. 29:23—“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” Pride seems heady and satisfying at the time it is engaged, but the outcome of pride will eventually be a disastrous drop.
· James 1:9—“The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” When we are kept in less-than-lofty conditions, we are to thank God and take pride in our status, knowing that it leads to His blessings and greater service.
· James 4:6—“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” When we are proud, God is AGAINST us. What a losing position to be in!
· Prov. 3:34—“He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” God has no grace for the proud. When we choose our way and our solutions and our plans over God’s, we are mocking Him, and grace will be cut off. This should be an easy choice: the grace-life over a do-it-yourself way of living.
Pride is not innocuous; it is exceedingly wrong. Prov. 30:32 says, “If you have played the fool and exalted yourself, or if you have planned evil, clap your hand over your mouth!” When we “exalt ourselves”, we are committing an act that is right up there with “planning evil”. There is no question that pride is bad, but what makes it so hard to manage or spot is that it takes place mostly in the secret chambers of carnal hearts. It is hard to recognize, even within ourselves. I believe this is one of those sensitivities that will come only through serious refinement and maturation.
Boasting is associated with pride. Boasting is not pride, per se, but it is a sin all its own, and it is the evidence that pride is at work. This is why it should be avoided. Changes in our hearts through study and training will help us recognize and confess boasting and pride, and will give us increased discernment to see it when it is rising up within us. But pride will always be at work to cause us to “self-elevate”, rather than humbly waiting on the Lord. 1 Cor. 5:6 says, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?” Boasting is seen as a form of “malice and wickedness” (see v. 8), so the yeast in this verse (v. 6) represents boasting as a sin, which creeps throughout the heart and even into the hearts of those that hear it. Boasting corrupts self and others, as it draws attention away from God and toward the assets of humanity. James 4:16 echoes this view, saying, “As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”
There is no place for boasting before God. 1 Cor. 1:28-29 says, “He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not, so that no one may boast before him.” No one can boast before God; it is utter folly. Prov. 27:2 calls for us to allow others to praise us, and not to praise ourselves. This verse says, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.” This is another call for us not to brag. When we brag, we are preaching the devil’s lie that goodness and life come from us, rather than God.
Because pride is evil, and because it is promoted by Satan, it is appropriate that we should fortify against it through prayer. Of this, Jesus said, as we see in Matt. 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” There are many forms of evil that Satan uses to entice or pull us into slavery to him: sin, pride, attachment to the world, self-righteousness, doubt, and so on. This is why we have to pray for “deliverance from evil”, which is a call to be extracted to safety.
Pride also has the effect of disrupting our fellowship with God. Speaking of this, Andrew Murray said the following, suggesting that restoration of the filling of the Holy Spirit is the only way to have the strength to overcome pride:
“Brother, have we not here [in our pride] the cause of failure in the pursuit of holiness? Is it not this, though we knew it not, that made our consecration and our faith so superficial and so short-lived? We had no idea to what an extent pride and self were still secretly working within us, and how alone God by His incoming and His mighty power could cast them out.”
Pride prevents holiness, which is cleanliness. This is because, in pride, we hardly recognize God, let alone see and acknowledge our own deficiencies and weaknesses (translated “sins”). So we “play the fool” and try to exalt ourselves, thus keeping grace at arm’s length, as we continue on the path that we are blazing for ourselves.
Pride also prevents service. Pride is about serving “self”, not others. With pride, we are not esteeming others better than ourselves, so we are not serving them. Instead, we are comparing ourselves with others to make sure we get our share of the spotlight, ascertaining that our worth is properly showcased. 2 Cor. 10:12 tells us this:
“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”
Comparisons lead to competition. Competition in life (different from “games”) leads to envy, jealousy, greed, and—eventually—hatred. These are the opposite of love, fellowship, maturity, spirituality, and a life that represents being “...devoted to one another in brotherly love”, or obeying the command to “...honor one another above yourselves”. (See Rom. 12:10.)
In summary, pride is the opposite of humility. If we can grow into greater faith and stronger humility, pride will be upstaged, and we will be able to walk in dependence on our Father, rather than ourselves.
GROWTH AND HUMILITY
The purpose of everything we do as “seeking” believers is related to our growth, which will enable us to get closer to God. When we are at last close to God, we can—from that vantage point—fulfill His will, glorify Him, serve others, and enjoy His “fullness”. Some might say our interest in such growth is a “selfish” pursuit, but our relationship with the Lord is individual and personal, and WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ATTENDING TO OUR OWN GROWTH. Growing is actually the most “unselfish” thing we can do. And we must pursue it with all our being.
Humility is a product of growth. As we learn more about God and His grace, and as we use the techniques and believe the promises that we are learning, we will be growing. This will give us a new perspective, and humility will naturally follow. When God comes into focus, and His truths begin to crystallize in our hearts, we can only acknowledge how great He is. When we are in His presence, we can do none other than bow our heads in submission to the Almighty God.
We have studied in the past the place of learning “truths for living” to enable us to grow. I suggest you read Volumes 1 and 2 of Bible Basics on the Power of God’s Word, available at this website. These studies provide a complete discussion of the process of growing in the Word. It is essential that every believer at every stage of growth takes time to study each day, in order to assimilate truth and take in spiritual nourishment. Without this, spiritual strength will atrophy, and the Christian walk will become a crawl, and—eventually—a collapse.
Many different forms of study are available. The primary method for learning is to sit at the feet of a pastor-teacher who teaches AT LEAST every other day, and who teaches how to live, based on Scripture. There are also books and recorded studies that teach the Word. And in-depth personal studies can be done, as well, using Bible dictionaries, commentaries, systematic theologies, word analyses, translations, and topical studies. Correct information is available IF YOU WANT IT AND SEEK IT!
In Proverbs 2, we see a picture of the growth process, as facilitated by gaining wisdom. Verse 6 in chapter 2 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This wisdom comes to the “blameless”, the “upright”, and the “just” (verses 7 and 8). Clearly, wisdom is for those who are in fellowship continually, those walking in the Spirit. The result of acquiring wisdom is accurately depicted in verses 9-11, as follows:
“Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”
Wisdom in the heart is the most strengthening quality we can acquire, outside the Holy Spirit Himself. When we get wisdom, we will see God as He is, as per verse 5 (still in Prov. 2), which says we will “understand the fear of the Lord”. This fear amounts to full recognition of the greatness and perfection of God. Wisdom, then, leads to greater insight into the person and works of God. Proverbs 4:7 caps this, saying, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” This is because wisdom leads to humility.
Even though “humility” is not mentioned by name in the following passage, notice the footprint of humility. Verses 8-9 of Prov. 4 say the following about the effects of wisdom, all of which are also the results of humility: “Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendor.” When we embrace wisdom, humility will blossom, and we will be exalted. And as we grow in wisdom, we will also serve others. This is a direct result of increased humility, as shown in James 3:13 which says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Colossians 1:9-12 tells us about the growth-gains we get when we acquire knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from Scripture. Here is what this passage says:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
Paul is praying that God will fill the Colossians with “knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding”, so that they will benefit in the following ways:
1. They can live a life “worthy of the Lord”.
2. They can “please him in every way”.
3. They can “bear fruit in every good work”.
4. They can “grow in the knowledge of God”.
5. They can be “strengthened with all power”.
6. And they will end up with endurance, patience, joyful thanksgiving, and an inheritance.
The most important truth we see in this verse is that knowledge and understanding cause growth, and that closeness with God and correspondence with His will are thereby increased. So closeness with God causes us to feel what? Humility! When we are looking into the light of the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), there is no other way to feel.
Another way to grow is through God’s training. Please take time to read God’s Training Program for Believers, also available at this website. A big part of God’s training is through trials and tests to “strain” our faith and build it up. In reality, the term “strengthening our faith” could be seen as something of a misnomer, because faith doesn’t get more potent; it just incorporates MORE BELIEF that God is there working in our best interests, that He knows exactly what we need, and that He is capable of delivering the right assets at the right time. “Greater strength” actually comes from God, and not from us. By believing more, we access more strength...strength which belongs to God and is shared with us. As our faith is characterized by MORE, God’s strength is MORE WITH US.
One of the ways that faith is tested in order to make it grow is through suffering. This is a common way for God to introduce conditions that will cause us to re-focus on Him, and make us look to Him for relief and remedy. When we suffer we are “down”, which means we have been “humbled”. Suffering adds to faith and leads to humility. Humility then leads to more faith, and so on...a spiral of growth has begun in which spirituality and maturity can flourish. Suffering on the surface appears to be a bad thing, but it can have a positive outcome, if it leads us to humility and greater faith.
To increase the humility and faith of the Jews after they escaped from Egypt, God led them into the desert. What was necessary for survival? Food and water. What was missing in the desert? Food and water. As they faced this deprivation, is it any wonder that these Jews were thinking that the hard labor and occasional lashes back in Egypt weren’t really so bad, after all? But God brought them into the desert for one reason, which is depicted in Deut. 8:2-3, as we see here:
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
God humbled them to teach them. They had to understand that God was their true caretaker, and not nature or the world. They had to know where their faith was to be directed, and understand their dependency on the Lord. But notice something else: They were provided for, even during the time of testing. Verse 3 from Deut. 8 says, “Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” They had manna, fresh clothes, and comfortable feet. Not bad for a time of “testing”. But the trials were real and numerous in the desert, and enormous pressures were exerted on them while they were there.
Times of pressure and pain are difficult, so God provides prayer as a means for seeking relief, as we examined closely in the book on Training mentioned above (also, see James 5:13). When we “HUMBLE OURSELVES AND PRAY”, relief can be forthcoming. In the meantime, we endure testing to increase faith and humility. These have a function before, during, and after the testing. We exercise faith and humility to fortify us for, and to foreshorten the time of, our suffering. And we pray to have the suffering removed, as Paul did in 2 Cor. 12:5b-9, which says this:
“...I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
So, why did God permit the angel of Satan to continue to torment Paul? To keep Paul from becoming “conceited”. And what was produced by this pressure on Paul? Humility, leading to grace and power. His weaknesses became God’s opportunities to work. Paul was humbled by his “suffering” and acknowledged his inability to manage his own spiritual life, realizing that his only strength came from God’s grace and power. Paul was not given the “relief” he asked for, but “grace” instead. So, if we are praying and trusting, the “provision” will consist of one of two things: 1) relief...or 2) grace to stand the test. And when the test is over, growth will be in evidence.
Growth leads to humility, which leads in turn to closeness to God. Closeness will not occur without humility. We cannot approach the throne of grace with pride hidden in our pockets. We can only approach with clean hearts, dressed in humility. Andrew Murray offers another statement which helps us explain this principle. Here is what he said:
“We knew not that absolute, unceasing, universal humility must be the root-disposition of every prayer and every approach to God as well as of every dealing with man; and that we might as well attempt to see without eyes, or live without breath, as believe or draw nigh to God or dwell in His love, without an all-pervading humility and lowliness of heart.”
Get humble, grow, get humble, get close, grow, get humble, get humble, get humble....
HUMILITY AND FAITH
We will rely heavily on Andrew Murray, who lived from 1828 until 1917, to provide insights into the relationship between humility and faith. Fortunately, the material from Murray that is quoted in this section is in the public domain, so we can freely present his remarks on faith and humility. (For more on Andrew Murray, refer to Endnote 1). We begin with a quote citing the need for humility, and highlighting the problem of pride as an impediment to faith, as follows:
“Brother, have we not been making a mistake in taking so much trouble to believe, while all the time there was the old self in its pride seeking to possess itself of God’s blessing and riches? No wonder we could not believe. Let us change our course. Let us seek first of all to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God: He will exalt us. The cross, and the death, and the grave, into which Jesus humbled Himself, were His path to the glory of God. And they are our path. Let our one desire and our fervent prayer be, to be humbled with Him and like Him; let us accept gladly whatever can humble us before God or men;—this alone is the path to the glory of God.”
Any attempt to have faith and build it up will be futile, as long as our hearts are dominated by pride. It is only when we are “humble” that we can believe...and grow our faith. Murray said that pride and faith are mutually exclusive, as we see in the following:
“In our text [John 5:44] Jesus discovers to us that it is indeed pride that makes faith impossible. ‘How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another?’ As we see how in their very nature pride and faith are irreconcilably at variance, we shall learn that faith and humility are at root one, and that we never can have more of true faith than we have of true humility; we shall see that we may indeed have strong intellectual conviction and assurance of the truth while pride is kept in the heart, but that it makes the living faith, which has power with God, an impossibility.”
We can acknowledge the truths we hear and go through the motions of Christian living, and still not enjoy that “life” which comes through deep and rich communion with God, made possible by God’s grace and accessed by faith. If pride is resident within us, we will be seeking to “receive glory from one another”, and thus will not be exercising faith toward God.
Clearly, pride gets in the way of faith, which is why we must confess arrogance as often as we observe it in ourselves. Pride blocks grace and brings “cursing”, as per Jer. 17:5, which says, “This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” When we depend on ourselves or others, rather than God, the grace-flow is cut off. By confessing pride, we remove its power, and restore our fellowship with God. It is then that we can operate in humility and faith, which opens grace-doors for strengthening and blessing.
Faith and humility go together, but our end-goal is to increase our FAITH. When faith is truly strong (or great), pride will decrease and humility will become a constant in our walk. Murray gives us the following on receiving “glory”, or grace, as a result of faith:
“Faith is the organ or sense for the perception and apprehension of the heavenly world and its blessings. Faith seeks the glory that comes from God, that only comes where God is All. As long as we take glory from one another, as long as ever we seek and love and jealously guard the glory of this life, the honor and reputation that comes from men, we do not seek, and cannot receive the glory that comes from God. Pride renders faith impossible.”
Faith opens grace, and permits us to advance toward the “fullness of God”. But it all begins with laying-to-rest our pride, a task accomplished through spirituality and maturity, facilitated by humility.
Finally, Murray adds this about faith and humility:
“We need only think for a moment what faith is. Is it not the confession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the waiting to let God work? Is it not in itself the most humbling thing there can be,—the acceptance of our place as dependents, who can claim or get or do nothing but what grace bestows? Humility is simply the disposition which prepares the soul for living on trust. And every, even the most secret breathing of pride, in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is just the strengthening of that self which cannot enter the kingdom, or possess the things of the kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be what He is and must be there—the All in All.”
Humility trumps pride and permits faith to operate, thus allowing us to live daily by faith. Humility ushers us into the “kingdom” (which does not mean heaven, but a life close to God). Humility presents our “nothingness” to God, who transforms it into the production of divine good through Spirit-led service.
GIFTS, HUMILITY, LOVE, AND SERVICE
Gifts and humility and love and service are all parts of the same train. We want to see how these are hooked together and what we can hope for as a result of their joint function. For openers, pay close attention to the following verses regarding gifts:
· Eph. 4:8—This is why it says, “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”
· 1 Cor. 1:7—Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
· Eph. 4:15-16—Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
· 1 Pet. 4:10—Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
We receive gifts to serve. Then we come together as a unit, in order to strengthen the group, as well as each individual in the group. Eph. 4:2-3 tells us how this works, as follows:
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace [fellowship].”
Fellowship among believers aligns and combines individual hearts into harmonious units under the control of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship with each other, or “unity”, must begin with the filling and control of the Holy Spirit. If anyone is out of fellowship with God, the function of the group is affected. But when all are in fellowship, the force of the consolidated collection of believers is unstoppable.
With unity, the gifts of numerous believers meld into a cohesive whole, which functions with the efficiency and solidarity of a single body. The body has many parts, and each must complete its function in order for the other parts of the body to work smoothly. 1 Cor. 12:18 anchors this truth, saying, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” God is the one who designs and operates the body, and He must be the one who coordinates and directs its activities. If each part of the body has its own agenda, and is pursuing its own independent objective, the body will pull itself apart and will conduct only random and chaotic activities. Nothing meaningful will get done, though many strategies may be implemented and great energies expended. The work of the body depends on each part submitting to the Head (Col. 1:18), so that the efforts of all the parts will be meaningful and productive.
For believers to work together as a unified group, each must be connected with the Head, which is Christ, experienced in us as His Spirit. This means that each believer must have his or her sins confessed, and must be using the techniques for walking in the Spirit and growing. When there is connection with the Head, gifts will be engaged by the members...and each member will benefit. Everybody will be working for everyone else, and not for himself! Service is meant to have an outlook, rather than an inlook. Jesus expressed this perspective when He said this:
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25b-28)
The exercise of our gifts has the view of seeing to the needs of others. This is the way the church is supposed to work...not just as a collection of mechanical water birds (with heads nodding), but as a dynamic group of Spirit-energized believers with EVERY MEMBER CONTRIBUTING TO THE GROUP through his or her own gifts. When we gather to be taught, the pastor is the teacher, but we also need to spend time together in exchanging our gifts. Note: we are all ministers!
The idea of our serving, or being a servant, is seen again in Mark 9:35, which says, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all’.” Notice the suggestion of humility, which is seminal in the performance of our gifts in the power of the Holy Spirit. The highest rank in the Christian army is “servant”; this is the position from which most of the real work gets done.
God Himself selects the gifts which each one of us is to have, and He is the one who will work the gifts. Our job is to stay connected to Him through fellowship, so He can work through us. 2 Thess. 1:11 frames this well, saying this:
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”
God’s “calling” is the gift he has given us; it is an extension of His grace (see 2 Thess. 1:12). Paul’s prayer is that we will be “counted worthy” of this grace provision, which means having all sins confessed and standing before God with a clean sin-record. This is confirmed in Eph. 4:1, which says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Once again, “being worthy” precedes occupying and fulfilling our “calling”. Fellowship comes before service. When we are filled with the Spirit, He can do His work. Phil. 2:13 says, “...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (See Bible Basics on Maturity, the chapter on “Gifts”, for lists of the various gifts, as well as additional discussion on the timing and receipt of gifts.)
Gifted service works in conjunction with humility, as we have seen before. Titus 3:2 tells us “to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.” When we live peaceably and show humility, we enhance the effectiveness of our gifts. Phil. 2:3-4 backs this up in a passage we saw earlier, saying this:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Humility is linked with the operation of our gifts. When humility is absent, pride and ego demand that we elevate ourselves and get recognition, even in (and sometimes especially in) church. Selfishness, ambition, and pride have no place in the operation of our gifts.
When we identify our gifts, we are to accept them and sincerely assume our place in the body. 1 Cor. 12:14-20 tells us we are to faithfully occupy the roles that God assigns, and accept the place that God determines will allow us to contribute the most to others...and that will bring us the greatest blessings. Here is what this passage says:
“Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
We can imagine what mayhem the church would be in if all the body parts were acting independently, OR if each were trying to be a different body part. This has comical implications, but the serious upshot in this is that we can actually witness this in many Christian churches. Where is the fellowship? Where is the coordination of the Spirit? Where are gifts being used interactively? By this last question, I mean to ask, where are gifts being used in a divinely-structured system, underpinned by humility, supported by faith, and performed through fellowship? Gifts must be coordinated by the One who provided them to start with, and they must be performed by maturing believers in fellowship!
Service: That’s what it’s all about. Humility: That’s the prerequisite condition. As we step out to serve in the power of the Holy Spirit, having grown in favor and faith, we carry with us a spirit of love and humility. This is featured in Matt. 23:8-12, where Jesus gave us the following admonition:
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’, for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
We are not to seek titles, or the power and approbation of “position”. This is the work of pride. Instead, we are to perform the work of our gifts in humility, recognizing that it is God who is working, and that there is no place for self-adulation in the body of Christ. We do not exercise our gifts for ourselves, but for the Lord. As Paul said, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” And how do we serve? Through our gifts.
The backdrop for service through gifts is love. Love is a sign of fellowship, and the prompt for humility. Love motivates us to serve, as per Gal. 5:13b, which appoints us to “serve one another in love”. Col. 3:12-17 also gives a spin on the notion of humbly serving in love, as we see in the following:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Notice the sequence. We are to clothe ourselves in love (v. 12), conduct our service in the power of the Spirit (v. 15, “peace” being “fellowship”), and edify each other through our gifts (v. 16). It is impossible for us to operate in jealousy, envy, competitiveness, hatred, gossip, and rudeness and still perform service through our gifts. These must be eradicated through fellowship and growth, so that love can blossom, humility can be expressed, and service can thrive. The process is simple: Get in fellowship and then perform services through your gifts. This is “doing it all in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
Rom. 12:9-13 announces our goal: to meet the needs of fellow believers. This passage admonishes us to do the following:
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
All we ever do as believers funnels into a single purpose, which is, once again, to meet the needs of fellow believers through loving service. Everything should be aimed at enabling each other to STAY IN FELLOWSHIP and to GROW, our two greatest needs. There are other needs, both spiritual and practical, that can be met through our respective gifts, but the most important ones are related to our spiritual condition and progress. Rom. 14:19 clarifies the purpose of our service, saying, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Fellowship and growth: These are the results that God wants to see from our service. If we aren’t supporting the edification of fellow believers, we are not serving.
Any kind of service requires humility. The greatest expression of humility in connection with our gifts is seen in the support we give to other believers. This makes love very concrete and brings it into pragmatic experience in a very tangible way. 1 Cor. 13:4-5 shows us exactly what this kind of love looks like, as follows:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
This is the attitude of love that supports and energizes our gifts. Love is simply the presence and character of the Holy Spirit, who is present and in charge when we are clean and walking in dependence on Him.
We mentioned earlier that faith and humility travel together. We want to provide a reminder here of that connection. Faith and humility interplay in a symbiotic relationship whereby each strengthens the other. And the result is service. Eph. 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Reverence is fear of the Lord, and fear of the Lord is a graduated form of faith. So, “out of faith” comes submission to one another. Faith generates humble subservience of each of us to all the rest of us. This is the frame for service.
As for finding and developing our gifts, these will be timed by God, and will be developed through maturity. If you don’t KNOW your gift, GROW your faith. We are told to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Tim. 1:6a). This is elaborated in 1 Tim. 4:13-16, which tells us to GROW, so that we will not NEGLECT OUR GIFTS. Here is what this passage says:
“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
As we grow, faith will increase. As faith broadens, humility will develop. As humility evolves, love will flourish. As love blossoms, service will expand. This is the Christian life. This is our purpose.
With all the emphasis on service rendered to fellow Christians, the question that may arise is this: What about evangelizing? It is not excluded. If we are serving other believers and mutually edifying each other, the lost will be reached by mature believers who will be available at all times to dispense the gospel. Some even have the gift of evangelizing, and much of their service will be conducted in the field...outside the church. All evangelism is to be directed by the Holy Spirit, in whatever form He wants to conduct it, and it is something we should all be prepared to do, as the Spirit leads. God will always accommodate positive volition, meaning a desire for the gospel, and He frequently uses us to do it. This is a RESULT of the “servicing” that has been done within the church. Edify first; “witnessing” will follow as a work of grace within the plan of God. Giving the gospel is an OUTCOME of spirituality and maturity.
THE EFFECTS OF HUMILITY
Humility opens spiritual doors. Without humility, many avenues of growth and service will be cut off, and we will stagnate in our Christian walk and not understand why we aren’t moving farther and farther. A lack of humility halts progress and hinders our relationship with God, whereas its presence frees us to have fellowship with God, and moves us along the maturity track. There are many positive side-effects of humility, and we want to examine some of these, but first we want to look briefly at two important techniques that humility makes operational: namely, learning and prayer.
The “humble” are the ones who are taught. Ps. 25:9 says, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” The converse of this is that God does not teach without a condition of humility. Humility not only brings instruction, according to this verse, it also invites God’s “guidance”, which is the leading of the Holy Spirit. In summary, when we are humble, we will stay in fellowship, be taught, and enjoy the filling and direction of the Holy Spirit. This is because the Word brings light and understanding to the humble. Ps. 119:130 gives us the following to further establish that humility affects learning: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Pride interferes with learning, as in the case where we say, “What I know already is sufficient.” This kind of self-satisfaction and refusal of truth cannot turn out well, as we see in Pr. 11:2, which says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Prov. 16:18-20, parts of which we saw earlier, shows that getting this wisdom is something we do when we are humble. The evidence and outcome of pride is that instruction is refused. Here is what this passage says:
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
We have some choice about being humble and being taught. If you catch yourself being proud, confess it and get back into the Word as quickly as possible.
Humility also influences the effectiveness of our prayer life, as per Dan. 10:12, which says this:
“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them’.”
Daniel did two things: first of all, he wanted the truth; secondly, he humbled himself before God. Because of this, his prayers were heard and he got answers for the questions he had. Notice Daniel’s humility in verse 15: “While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless.” In the next verse (v. 16), Daniel said to the messenger in front of him, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I am helpless. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” It is then that Daniel’s humility brought strength to him, when God infused Him with divine power. The messenger said, “Peace! Be strong now, be strong” (v. 19). And what happened within Daniel? He said, “I was strengthened and said, ‘Speak my lord, since you have given me strength’” (also v. 19).
Humility results in restoration, followed by strengthening. 2 Chron. 7:13-15 gives a clear depiction of this, saying the following:
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”
When believers humble themselves AND pray, then God will “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God hears the prayers of the humble, but not the prayers of the proud.
Pride is a slippery slope. Prayer itself can become a source of pride. This is what Jesus spoke against in Matt. 6:5-8, where He made the following statement:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
When we pray, we come before the throne of grace, not onto the stage of man. God knows our heart, and if we come to Him with hearts that are pure and humble, we do not need to generate prayers filled with weighty paragraphs and sentences, trimmed with grammatical correctness and concrete nouns. We only need to sit still before Him. He knows our list. He knows our needs. We can specify, if we choose, to be sure we have asked for the things we need or want, or to be sure we have interceded thoroughly for others. But He already knows. When He sees a heart that is right coming to Him in prayer, He says, simply, “Yes, I’ll take it from here.” That’s all that’s needed.
God does many other things for the humble besides teaching them and answering their prayers. Here are some other things that humility brings about:
1. Humility averts discipline. This is what we see in 2 Chron. 12:12, which says, “Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.” Implicit in the idea of humility is the technique of confession. Confession operates as an expression of humility. Confession and humility stop discipline, at least in the form of punitive suffering. Suffering may continue for training, but the discipline aspect of it will cease.
2. Humility heals. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). We saw this verse earlier, but we feature it now regarding the impact of humility on healing. Based on James 5:14-16, we believe this principle can be applied to the healing of the body, as well as that of a nation, within the scope of God’s will and purpose.
3. God comforts the humble. 2 Cor. 7:6a says, “But God, who comforts the downcast [the humble] comforted us...”
4. The humble are sustained. Ps. 147:6 tells us, “The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.”
5. God delivers the humble. 2 Sam. 22:28 says, “You save [deliver] the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.”
6. The humble are exalted. We see this in several verses, as follows:
Prov. 15:33—The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
Prov. 22:4—Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.
James 4:10—Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
7. God blesses the humble. 1 Chron. 17:16-19, gives an account of David’s humble prayer of thanksgiving for his blessings, as follows:
“Then David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men, O Lord God. What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, O Lord. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”
Because of David’s humility, he was given blessings...according to God’s will and by God’s grace toward his servant.
Watch for the effects of humility. They are everywhere in Scripture, and they are significant. Being humble is essential for Christian living, and it’s not that hard. Just notice God, and wait for the shock of recognition to sink in.
DON’T FORGET GOD
The Old Testament was written for the Jews, but there are many principles cited there that have implications for all ages. Deuteronomy 8 is one of them. We want to quote verses 10-20 from that chapter to show what can happen whenever we forget God. When God is removed from our consciousness, we lose sight of God’s greatness and our own weakness, and we need to be reminded of His place in our lives and in the universe. Here is what this passage says:
When we cave in to our yearning for God, and surrender to an all-out search for Him, then we will know why we should be humble, because we will see how indescribably great God is. Long after George Miiler came to faith in Christ, he came to understand what total surrender to God is. He said the following after his ninetieth birthday, addressing a group of ministers and workers:
“The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man...and it led me to care only about the things of God. God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh! Be not satisfied until in your inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!”
Written in the late 1800’s this call still rings true and current today, beckoning us to stand in front of the Almighty God in reverence and awe, and to surrender to Him.
Next article: “Surrendering to God”
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